New Investor advice in Texas

[Leah Richards]

Would love to get y'alls thoughts/opinions on what to do as a newbie investor in Texas...

Some background: We live/rent in Austin,TX. We have a nice place and are able to save $7,000/month after rent/expenses, debt free and have 55k saved. 

Originally we were planning to buy a home here in Austin, but as we started getting our finances in order, learning and more clearly defining our financial goals we realized investing vs. buying a $650k home seems like a much better route and very attainable right now. We definitely want to park our money somewhere with a goal to retire from our day job in 10yrs. 

What we're contemplating is...

- Still buying a home in Austin but one that is much less $300-$400k that would be more for appreciation/growth that would have a mortgage similar to what we pay in rent now. We like Easton Park out of all new affordable neighborhoods. However we may move out of Austin in 3-5 years so not sure if we should do that.

- Going the turnkey route, we've researched and heard good things about Norada and are set up to talk to them soon. Seems like a good fit for our busy day jobs, upcoming wedding and wanting to start a family soon..I wish housing hacking was an option but it's not for us in our 30's lol.

Sorry if this was long winded - would love some advice on what you would do in our situation.

Many Thanks!! 

[John Morgan]

Buy starter homes. That’s what I’m doing in the DFW area and their appreciation rate is the highest due to major demand for homes under 220k.