Newbie moving to Oak Harbor, WA

[Monica Zaricor]

Hi Everyone!

I'm an officer in the Navy and I'll be moving to Oak Harbor in a few weeks. I'd like to get into real estate investing so I've been looking around and researching my options. 

My ideal is to buy a multifamily with the VA loan and live in one unit while renting out the others. Then I could eventually move out and keep the property long term. However, as others have mentioned on this forum, there seems to be slim pickings in that area right now (because of the squadrons moving in from Hawaii), especially for a relatively young beginner like me. There is a triplex currently on the market, however I think it is priced such that cash flow would be very minimal. My other option would be to buy a SFR (to live in now and rent in the future), which I think would appreciate well and rent very easily but once again, cash flow would be negligible once you take into account repairs and property management. For instance, based on looking at Redfin a house listed for $150K is renting for $1100 a month. There are also condos available but I'm hesitant about being subject to an HOA.

I don't think I would be able to manage any property myself because my job requires me to be out of the country about half the time. I feel like I'm about a year too late to catch the price increases from the new squadrons moving in and I'm afraid the market is topped out right now. I don't want to get in over my head, especially since I know I will be busy with my job. Any advice would be welcome!