Focus on Equity or Cash Flow for my First Property?

[Jacob Trogan]

Hey there friends, so I am working out my strategy and what I want to do for my first property. I need some help.

I may be too realistic or just too uninspired but I am assuming for my first deal it will be good but not the best deal ever since I have little experience and I want to purchase off of the MLS. For that reason I am assuming I can find decent equity (20-25%) that I can later refinance out with a HELOC to help purchase my second property. I have found properties like this and I BELIEVE... But looking at numbers in Arizona and Idaho Falls if there is equity in a property it often cash flows very poorly (or negatively). For this reason instead of sticking to SFH, I have began running numbers on Duplexes which cash flow much better but I feel like it will be more difficult to find one with equity since they are valued differently.

So my question is if I should shoot for the stars with a duplex that cash flows really well and has equity I can use a year after it is purchased or a SFH that may not cash flow as well but has much more equity. I think I have a lot of limiting beliefs since I know duplexes can be bought at a good discount but I just don't feel like it's realistic that I will find one on the MLS with such little experience and be able to close on it.

Thanks for any advice or inspiration, everything is appreciated.