Scaling My Rental Portfolio

[AJ Satcher]

Hello Everyone!

So just a few weeks ago, I closed on my first owner occupied real estate investment. This is a SFH that I saved for in a year and was able to come up with the 3% + closing costs (about 15k). The plan is to live in it for a year, rent it out, and then repeat the process.

I am currently 24 so by the time I'm 27, I'd ideally have 3 properties or 5 by the age of 29. One might say this is good or one might say there is room for more depending on who you ask.

My problem is just that. I do feel like there's a better way. Being able to get this high priced asset for only 3% down is great, but it leaves little room for cash flow given that I am in fact leveraging so much debt. Speaking of debt, I feel like I'd run into the issue of banks/credit unions not wanting to lend to me any longer due to a high DTI.

With all this being said, I am trying to formulate my plan for the next deal in a year and would like some advice. With how my wife and I save, we are able to put away 20-30k in a given year, which to me is just slightly not enough to do bigger deals. It's very frustrating that after a long and hard year of sacrificing our funds that we come up just short of enough! Is wholesaling a good idea to learn to start adding to our savings? Are we okay just continuing on the track we are currently on? Ideally I'd just like to get to a point where I have more funds to work with and to do more than just a 3% owner occupied, live in it for a year (slow/not attractive). I really want to do a BRRRR!

Let me know what you think! The advice is really appreciated