Buying Property With Equity Gift

[Nicole Barnes]

Hi everybody! Long-time BP listener, but soon to be newbie investor. I would love any advice you guys have for me regarding my situation. So, I'm currently renting a single family home (3/2 1,800 sq ft) in the Cordova/Lakeland area, which is a suburb of Memphis, TN. My father is actually the owner of the property and has approached me about buying the house and would gift me the equity in the house if I agreed to purchase. The remaining balance on the mortgage is approx. $115,000 and comparable houses in the area that I've seen on Zillow have been selling lately for $160,000-180,000.

I'm really interested in leveraging this opportunity for my first step into real estate investing, but I need some help thinking this thing through and determining what numbers would make this make sense for me. Not sure if I should buy the house and rent it out, or use it as my primary residence and put the extra money I'd save each month towards saving for a down payment for another property.

I'm pretty young, mid-20's and am actually from the Memphis-area. I'm actually hoping to relocate out of state in the next year or two, but at the moment, I'm thinking that a buy-and-hold strategy is what I primarily want to use to build my portfolio. I welcome any advice you guys might have for me. Thanks!