Is it bad to focus on only getting a 3-4 unit for your first?

[Bradley Lemen]

I have been pre-approved to get a home and I have seen a few places and also put an offer on 1 but it didn't go as planned. I have mainly been focusing on duplexs but my area doesn't have them on the market as often. So I have branched out into the bigger cities near me and found some triplexs and quadplexs! "Personally I don't want to invest in another state yet mainly because I'm learning and also have a life long goal on rebuilding my small town". After running the numbers and seeing the amount of cash flow I would make from a tri or quad it has made me not even want to look at duplexs anymore... Is it bad to only focus on a 4 unit or maybe a 3? I want to house hack for my first ever property and SFH doesn't even seem like a good idea for me and duplexs are covering my mortgage and maybe a small profit but triplexs and quads are seriously almost bringing close to what I make at my W2 job. I'm afraid I'm going to be waiting too long until I get myself a property to make some money from but I also want to have a good cash flow from my first property as well. This has kinda been stressing me out and I just feel asking here would help me figure out what would be best!

Do you guys think it's okay to wait for a tri or quadplex in my area? Or would it be smarter to try and get into something sooner rather than later? 

[Michael Ealy]

Originally posted by @Bradley Lemen:

I have been pre-approved to get a home and I have seen a few places and also put an offer on 1 but it didn't go as planned. I have mainly been focusing on duplexs but my area doesn't have them on the market as often. So I have branched out into the bigger cities near me and found some triplexs and quadplexs! "Personally I don't want to invest in another state yet mainly because I'm learning and also have a life long goal on rebuilding my small town". After running the numbers and seeing the amount of cash flow I would make from a tri or quad it has made me not even want to look at duplexs anymore... Is it bad to only focus on a 4 unit or maybe a 3? I want to house hack for my first ever property and SFH doesn't even seem like a good idea for me and duplexs are covering my mortgage and maybe a small profit but triplexs and quads are seriously almost bringing close to what I make at my W2 job. I'm afraid I'm going to be waiting too long until I get myself a property to make some money from but I also want to have a good cash flow from my first property as well. This has kinda been stressing me out and I just feel asking here would help me figure out what would be best!

Do you guys think it's okay to wait for a tri or quadplex in my area? Or would it be smarter to try and get into something sooner rather than later? 

 Bradley,

I doubt it if 3-4 units will pay you close to what you make on your job. You probably have not calculated the cashflow correctly.

Cashflow is not equal to Rent minus the mortgage payment.

Most newbies make that mistake.

You can also rent by the room or do AirBnb so houses or duplexes might still work.

Duplexes is where I started - I rent out one unit and I even have a roommate on the other.

Twenty years later and I now own 1,000 apartment units.