All cash or conventional loan?

[Kent Depwe]

Hey BP,

First post in here, short intro: I’m 25, Technical recruiter living in Austin Texas, just bought my first house in Austin July 2021.

I'm keen to get into REI, not necessarily in Austin or even in Texas for that matter.
I have about $70-100k cash to play around with for my first property.

Since interest rates are horrendous currently, I got quoted 6.3% on 30 year conventional with a 750 credit score and great debt to income. It would be very difficult to cash flow doing a regular 20-25% down mortgage, so I’m considering buying a $70-100k house in all cash in a secondary market to avoid the high interest. But then I wouldn’t be able to leverage my money as well.

So should I pull the trigger now and buy a $100k house in cash, or get a $250-300k house using mortgage loan risk low or no cash flow, and refinance when rates go down, or just wait until rates go down before buying?

I appreciate any input, thanks!