Hello and a conundrum/guidance

[Anthony Klar]

I am new to this website and excited about the possibilities of my potential in this new industry that I have chosen to be a part of.  So I first off want to say hello to everyone.  Also I love to read and if there are any books that anyone recommends I would greatly appreciate your list so that I can start going down that road so more.

Now for my actual question. This whole thing started when I realized how much equity I had in my current home in Austin. I did a cash out refinance so that I could move the A/C unit into the attic so I could build out a shower in the master bedroom, and I only pulled out enough to move the unit. It got me thinking on what I could do with the rest of the equity, and buying another property, hopefully a multi-family was the route I was thinking about. I reached out to a friend who is a real estate agent and they concurred it was a great idea. I did not know that once you do a refinance that you have to wait another year to do another one. It was brought up that I should sell my house and in turn buy a multi-family unit. I have been struggling with this decision though. On one side I could sell my house and in turn try to buy another two, and one of those being a multi-family, but most likely I will not be able to stay as close to downtown as my house is right now because of the housing market here. The other side is I could wait until September and get a HELOC and use the money from that to put a down payment on a multi-family. If you have a home that is in the South 1st area around William Cannon, would you sell it? Even though you know that you would have to move further out? Am I being too emotional about this since it is the first house that I have owned? Does it make more business sense to sell this home and be able to purchase another two?

[Aaron Gordy]

@Anthony Klar Keep it. 78745 is a good zip code. Its hard to make the numbers work if you buy a sfh rental now in the zip code. Look at SoFi north of Ben White and see what is happening. Look at South Congress below ben white. I know the area well. Refi when you are able to do so and buy a rental or possibly two with the equity built up. Don't sell. I used to own a sfh near cardinal and south first that I bought for 100k. I regret selling it as its worth in excess of 600k. When you get to the point of buying, reach out to an agent/broker that knows the rental investment business AND has rental properties so they can provide you some real insight when you are buying rentals. Two, they will know the best lenders in that arena too..fyi.