Am I Rushing Into a Purchase??

[Mischa Turner]

Hey guys,

I'm going to be living stateside after being active duty overseas the past four years with an itch to get into real estate.

Will be in Lawton, Oklahoma for five months (very slim possibility for ~3 years). This market has low equity appreciation, a dearth of multi-family homes, but a stable renter's market. This leaves me with single-family turnkey or BrRR opportunities, which I would most likely convert from primary residence to rental property six months after purchase. 

I can use a VA loan to purchase a house here, then use my wife's VA loan to purchase a house in another market a year later if not DTI-restricted. Alternatively, I could hope that my next assignment will be in a better market with more options, maybe lower rates, and more cash on hand.

Should I accept that no market is perfect and get in the game now, or hold out for a year to enter a potentially better market with more capital to invest?

Thanks!

[Jonathan Greene]

@Mischa Turner real estate and the stock market are nothing alike. You can't value add stocks and you can't personally impact the value of stocks, you have absolutely no control over their value. Real estate you can improve, you can find before anyone else knows about, you can track the path of development to hedge your bets. Sometimes the first action is not actually the action of buying, it's the action of research and formulating a plan.