First home vs first investment

[Jacob Prelle]

My wife and I are at a point where we can begin. We've saved up enough to get into the game and are very excited. 

Here's the thing .. we currently are renting a place in southern California. We don't own our own home and the question is whether we should be buying our own personal home first, or should we go for the investment property first. 

Some details: if we do the investment property, it'll likely be out-of-state and triplex or higher units. We'll do the math and it'll have a property manager, and cash flow and all that ...

If we go for our personal home first, we'll likely go for FHA 3.5% down, and probably wait until we save up 40 to 50 grand for that investment purchase in the following year or 2.

So what do you think? Is it a bad idea to purchase an investment property first, then personal home?

[Joe Villeneuve]

You're analyzing this using the wrong set of glasses.  Think about this:

If, you buy your own home first, then you will need to start all over again getting into position to buy your first rental, however, if you buy the rental first, that income from that rental can pay for your home mortgage, which means your tenant is buying both houses for you.