New Investor Looking to Purchase in a Year

[Enoch Wolsey]

Hello all!

I just realized that this is what I want to do for my career but my wife is going to school and we will be moving back to live with family within a year.

I really would like to house hack as it seems like the safest way to get started and to save a lot of money for the future but I'm not sure what to do RIGHT NOW because we won't be able to purchase and live at the property for at least a year.

We are currently looking to purchase in Davis County or Weber County, UT as that is where my wife will be doing student teaching but the prices are crazy and, after doing numbers for a few dozen properties, I just can't seem to get the numbers to work.

So, in essence, should I just wait it out? Also, as a side question, it seems like very few properties list what the tenants are paying for rent, when that's the case, do you just estimate what you think the numbers could be for the sqft and average rent?