Would you invest in either one property with high down payment or two properties with low down payment - same upfront cost and cash flow

[Sophie Mia]

Hi everyone,

So the scenario is the following:

Option A - buy property #1 with 25% down as an investor and make about $650 in cash flow.

Option B - buy property #1 with 3.5% down as an owner occupant and make about $300 in cash flow. Buy property #2 with 25% down payment as an investor and make about $350 in cash flow. cash flow for both properties would be $650.

Due to the fact that property #1 is about twice as expensive as property #2, the 25% down payment would be about the same as making a 3.5% down payment on property #1 AND making a 25% down payment on property #2.

My calculations also include closing costs etc. Basically my upfront costs and cash flow would be the same for either Option A or Option B. However, I would obviously build more equity since I would get two houses AND after 30 years, when the mortgage is paid off, my cash flow would be a few thousand more...

On the other hand, I would have two properties to worry about and not just one. Property #1 is a triplex and property #2 is a duplex. This would also give me 2 mortgages vs 1 which in the future might be a problem when I try to buy more houses.