Rent in one city, invest in another, how can I scale from here?

[Jonathan Carmel]

Hi everyone, I currently live / rent in Los Angeles and have an investment property in St. Petersburg, FL. I'm looking for strategies to buy my second property, but can't decide whether to try and house hack in LA or continue honing in on the Florida market. I've thought about selling in Florida and doing a 1031 exchange to build equity in Los Angeles, I've thought about a HELOC or home equity loan to buy a second property in Florida, etc.

Does anyone have thoughts / strategies on how best to scale from here? I'm itching to continue buying, but can't decide which direction to move. 

Thank you! 

[Rick Albert]

You can house hack here in Los Angeles with 3.5% down. I just closed on one for a client a few weeks ago. It was an FHA 203(k) loan.

I'm always in the mindset of owning the roof over your head. That way your income coming in has a good flow from one appreciating asset into another. Your rent will continue to climb. Intuitively, I'm thinking rents are going up at least 10% over the next 12 months. Inventory is remaining low.

Plus you can lock in a better interest rate with less money down house hacking. It just depends on the lifestyle you want/are comfortable with. 

We also don't know how much money you have to play with. Knowing that could also help us in getting a better idea of your situation.