We bought our 1st home & found out we hate living in the suburbs!

[Alexandra E Aponte]

Hello BP!

I'm pretty new to BP forums, and so far have just posted in the "Welcome to BP section". 

Thanks for all who welcomed me by the way!

Here's our situation: 

My husband and I just purchased our first home (in south Austin). We purchased this house bc we know its in a good area with high potential for appreciation. Since Austin is a high priced market, our plan was to OO homes and move out so we can rent them out and build our portfolio that way.

So now we are in the SFH 3/2.5 in the suburbs....and we are BORED!! Granted, its not the worst situation, our house is nice and we are 20 mins away from DT Austin. However, it just doesn't suit what we're used to (city living). Anyway, here's are my questions:

1) Once we have been here for a year, we've been told we are allowed to rent it out without breaking any lender rules. (We got 4.75% @ 95/5 conventional financing no MI 253K purchase price). Homes are pretty new (build 2009) and we can rent this place out at approx 2K. Once we are ready, should we put this home in an LLC? and if so, how do we do that?

2) We want to move closer to downtown Austin into a new-build in an up and coming area. We estimate the new build will be mid 400s (still waiting on pricing). We would stay in this place for a while and invest outside of Austin--thinking SA since it's more affordable). Is this smart if this place has great potential for appreciation? (rentals in the same area are going 2500++ for apartments!!) The new build will be a town home at least 3/2 but we are still waiting on floorplans.

3) I've got a total of approx 25K in savings that is just sitting there...the reason I've got his saved is bc I've been told that we need an "emergency fund" just in case something terrible were to happen (i.e. I lost my job)... but I am ITCHING to do something with it, since its only making like 1% in an "high interest" savings account. Should we find somewhere to invest it or just keep saving??

This is getting long, so hoping someone can give us some perspective on how we can continue to move towards our goals (passive income for retirement with buy and holds). 

Thanks so much BP!!