If you had 500k, and you are starting a family, what would you do

[Erich Stolz]

I, 31, am currently live in an apartment and will be moving in with my gf, 25, to start our lives with the intention of getting engaged by the end of the year. I have 500k of Capital I want to invest into real estate with the intention of build wealth.

We are wrestling with buying vs renting. In our market, where we want to live at our age, homes start around 500k. We could easily get into one of those homes now, but in less than 5 years would probably want to move into a more family friendly area.

Or we could just rent an apartment for 1800$/month, and continue saving (or investing) while living in the area we want now.

My question is, how do you guys look at this? Buy now, then rent out property when we leave? Or maybe invest the money into rental properties while we continue to rent?