Looking for advice on a place to start...

[Colton C.]

Hi Bigger Pockets Community - 

Thanks to all who post on this site.  What a wealth of information!  I am in a fairly unique situation, and would love some advice on a first real estate purchase. 

I am 32 years old and was married about 1 year ago.  Both myself and my wife are debt free (just paid off the student loans in full!) and for the past 3 years have been living out of our converted van to save money and travel the country.  We do traveling sales and travel about 300 days a year in our van. 

When we are not in the van, we have been staying at either of our parents houses.  While it is great to visit family, we are ready for a place to call our own.  

I am seeking advice on a creative situation that will not bog us down financially, but help to build wealth.  We have worked incredibly hard (7 days a week) and lived very modest (eating beans and rice) to save up $400k cash.  In addition we are tracking to clear about $1mn this year.

Our main issues are that we are technically homeless, and based in CA with 0 assets and are getting absolutely crushed by taxes.  In addition, for us to purchase a place to call home (somewhere we actually want to exist) and leave empty while we travel, we are looking at having to spend at least $850k with no real upside or income generating potential. 

Our dream situation is to:

- Have a place to call our own whenever we want to be there (ie...cannot have a long term renter in the property because it defeats the purpose).  My wife has been an amazing trooper these last 3 years but she really wants a place to call home now and does not want a renter in our space and using our stuff. 

- Have the location be somewhere we actually want to be (We love the outdoors.  Surf, fish, dive, etc...so an inexpensive place in a random suburb somewhere is no good either.  Ideal places for us are: Santa Cruz, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, San Diego, etc...).

- Be a day's drive or less to our families (one family lives in San Diego another lives in the Bay Area). 

- To buy something that helps us build wealth rather than wipe out our savings and dig us into a debt hole at $6500+ a month mortgage (for if our income changes). 

- To buy smart because our income fluctuates wildly.  We cannot depend on our income being what it is and want to be prepared for our income to go to $0 and still have our investment "pay for itself". 

I know this is a tall order to fill but just wanted to hear what any of you professionals have to say.  Thank you for reading this!