Need advice on leveraging 100k

[Joshua Miller]

Hey all,

First post here! Time to put my hard earned savings to some use I think :) 

Need some advice . So I have 100k in the bank, have been approved through B of A for an investment loan @ 4.5% 75% LTV btw.

I'm considering 2 options,

1. Buy 100k home (Jacksonville, Vegas?) cash, and then pull equity out to use as deposit on a 400k duplex (Ann Arbor, Portland?). How hard is it to pull that equity out? Would most banks do the loan?

2. Simply buy the 400k duplex.

At this point as a first time RE investor I'm not sure if I should get my hands that dirty without too much experience, but I think that it would put me ahead in the long run.

And just a note I live in Los Angeles CA, and am looking at out of state simply because of the yields and prices. Feel like I have been priced out of CA. Maybe after I get the investment properties I could get a FHA 3.5% loan for my own place here? Does anyone think I would have a problem doing that?

Thanks!

Josh