Advice on vehicle to use for 1st property

[Linzey Ledesma]

Hello BP family,

I am planning on purchasing my first property next year(2021). My initial plan was to buy a multi family unit either a duplex or triplex and house hack.

However I started a new job six months ago that is salary based and this coming year I will be filing my second year of tax returns. My total income would not represent what I would make in a normal year with this current job (since i started in june and only have 6 months of income to report). Because of this I would most likely not have enough income to get approved for a larger loan needed to buy a multiunit.

I live in California, and multi-units within the area and neighboring counties are more than I could qualify for on a loan(4k plus). Should I wait another year to file taxes and purchase a Multiunit, or should I just start with a small SFR build equity and refinance later to then be able to get a multiunit property?

I am renting right now, and would much rather get a SFR to live in and be able to have something in my name to refinance or draw a HELOC later, than to just wait another year (renting) to be able to buy a Multiunit.

Any advice?

I do see a SFR as a liability rather than asset, however in this case I would at least be able to use the SFR to draw money from later rather than having no SFR and just renting while saving.