1st step, Primary Residence or Rental Property

[Jeremy Leech]

Hey BP community! Cant express how impressed I am by the BP community! 

So I posted before about being a newbie real estate investor, Im very excited and cant stop thinking about my options. As of now, I am renting with my wife but we are at the point where we are ready to buy. My dilemma is, do I use my capital I've saved to buy a primary residence, or continue renting and start buying rental properties. I live in Oceanside, which is a small city in North County San Diego where property values just keep going up. Im worried that if I don't buy now / soon, I will have to keep chasing the market. 

My question to all of you is, did you start investing while you were still renting or did you buy a primary residence first before starting your investment journey? Is it a smarter decision to build equity in my own home then pull out the equity in a year or two and start investing then? or start investing now, continue renting and buy once I've built a small portfolio. 

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!