If you were in my shoes what route would you do?

[William Huston]

Hello All, 

I have been off this board for a while, i been out of investing for a little over 2 years for various reasons (career changes, and divorce) and i feel like i am in a good place financially to invest again, so i wanted to get some opinions.

4 years ago i got out of the Military and became a Realtor, i worked as a Realtor for a while, but i never really made decent money and worked my butt off, i barely managed 25k/yr, so i decided to make a change to my life and went back to school and now i am a Registered Nurse after going through a fast track education program. After getting my licenses as a Nurse my pay is stable and i should easily clear 55k this year based on the hours and pay i am currently being payed at my hospital job. 

Based on my income + about 70k in savings from selling non-performing properties i have been debating a few ways of going...

I have been keeping an eye on MLS listings since i still hold my real estate license for the past few months and Craigslist for cash deals, but i feel the prices are just terrible right now on your typical 3/2 rental properties...

Option 1: Should i keep looking for 3/2, 4/2+ under 150k deals for rentals in hopes of something popping up?

Option 2: I have been finding more deals on the more expensive houses in the 250K+ range, i have crunched numbers on a handful of houses in this range come across a good number that have showed positive passive profits in the $200+/month range, but im concerned on these taking up to much of my active income. Most of the houses i sold that were not really performing as rentals were in this range, so i have a bad history with rentals in this price range. 

Option 3: Currently i am renting out a room with family, because i was trying to reduce cost while i was in nursing school, The amount im being charged is very minimal compared to renting something these days, so i feel blessed, but i have thought about house hacking as option 3, purchase something on the larger side like 3,4,5 bedrooms and rent out 1 or 2 of the rooms. I have never done house hacking before since i married most of my life, so unsure how well this would work out, currently im single so no more wife issues on this one. 

Option 4: Should i just hold off right now as it seems the market is thin on houses and pricing is to high?