Hello from Little Rock, Arkansas

[Nathan Scarborough]

Hey there everyone, I'm 28 and getting tired of paying other people's mortgages for them! I'm seriously considering buying my first home when my current lease is up this fall, and from what various calculators are telling me I can afford about $100k worth of house. 

That said, duplexes seem to make a heck of a lot more sense than single family homes, and I'd like to leverage first time home buying and owner/occupancy into something I can pay off relatively quickly and turn into income before moving on.

Is it reasonable to think paying off my mortgage is possible in multi-family housing in 10-15 years?  I've been browsing zillow at work tonight and saw a triplex at $85k with two units rented out for $840 a month in gross income...if I put the $500/month I'm currently paying in rent on top of that, it looks too good to be true.  I'm skeptical as hell of most investment literature, but on paper this looks like it would be difficult not to at very least break even while building equity, and possibly a way to break into serious investing. I've never fantasized about being a landlord or anything, but at the risk of sounding ignorant, why isn't this absurdly popular? 

Is this a good idea? Have you done it yourself? What should I be thinking about as I move forward? 

[Stanley E.]

Hi Nathan Scarborough . I agree with Douglas Skipworth . Listen to the podcast and read all you can on bigger pockets. I wish I had been introduced to REI at 28. It seems you have an advantage that you don't have a wife and kids. So the skies the limit and you have more time. Just do your due diligence, but based on the info you provided, this souds like an awesome first deal. If you don't want to be a landlord, maybe you should consider getting a property manager and truly let your passive income be passive.