Military Family moving to Staten Island

[Whitney Tyson]

Hello everyone,

My family is moving back to the east coast after living in the Bay Area for the past 4 years. My wife is active duty in the Coast Guard and will be stationed in Staten Island. I work for a large national bank currently but am looking to start investing in real estate, either by house hacking or by using AirBnb to occasionally rent out a room. Does anyone in the local area have any ideas or recommendations as to where my be an ideal place to live/invest. I have head that living in Elizabeth, Bayonne, or Jersey city could be cost effective options with a small commute. We are looking to buy but our credit isn't the best (750 and 630) however we have good income including an extra 2700 housing allowance. Should we just rent and try to invest somewhere else? it seems like such a waste to pay 24,000 a year in rent to someone. let me know any thought or ideas you may have. We are due to get to NY by June 16,2018.

Thanks