My spouse and I have just moved to the Overland Park / Kansas City area this year from overseas. We have a couple of rental properties outside of the US, and we would like to start looking on properties in the Overland Park and / or Olathe area. I know that making money by timing the market is "speculation", and the general economy in the US feels kinda bearish to me, and my take is that it should start to take-off again in the 2020 timeframe perhaps after the election. This would mean that it is a good time to buy, because property value in 2019 and 2020 are likely low compared to its potential. I know that real estate is very area specific though, and the Overland Park area has been pretty good in terms of property appreciation.

We currently live in a rental, and I have been looking into Duplex / Multi-family housing to try and house-hack our way through. I would like to start by managing our own properties, and live in one of the units while leveraging my position through the mortgage loan. My spouse and I are both Civil Engineers, and our income should be able to qualify us for a loan anywhere in the $200k to $500k range. We're accumulating our down-payment but should be able to comfortably exceed the 3.5% minimum (understood that the Mortgage Insurance Premium is necessary for this arrangement which will impact cashflow).

I have a few thoughts that I'd like to get some feedback on:

Leverage: Since we're just starting off, I am conflicted as to whether to utilize my full leverage and go as big as possible (quad-plex?), or leverage moderately and go with a duplex?

Timing: I have read that winter is a better time to buy, but our rental lease is up in May of 2020. I would prefer moving sometime in April / May. Is this a good market to buy right now?

Area: I am thinking of Overland Park or Olathe area because we have lived here and like the area. It is also pretty close to work. We would like to get something that is not too far from Metcalf and 95th to 119th (probably at most 5 miles from that range). Any specific area that we should be looking at?

Size: Is it easier to rent-out 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom houses? From our perspective, we'll likely need a 2-bedroom house eventually. This would also mean that we will be paying for a 2-bedroom house when we don't need the extra room yet (living in a 1-bedroom rental now). So, we'll be paying for the expense of having an empty room in the house.

Kansas City, Missouri

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