I am new to the real estate investment scene and am looking to purchase my first property, however my financial situation is a bit perplexing so I am curious to hear the community's thoughts! My partner and I are looking to purchase within the next 12-16 months, however are unsure where to start to make the most out of our situation. We are considering the following as potential starting points: purchasing a home that can serve as a primary residence exclusively, a multifamily that we could "house hack", or a property that could serve as a long term and/or short term rental exclusively while continuing to rent in our area and save.

As it stands currently, our financial stance is such that we could qualify for "lower income" first time home buyer programs, including some down payment assistance through the state of Ohio. We would currently require this assistance to even consider purchasing. However, within the near future my partner will complete medical residency and transition to a job where our household income will nearly double. At that time, we would no longer qualify for state assistance (would still qualify for 1 down payment assistance program for graduates of our state's colleges).

My question is: would it be smarter to attempt to purchase relatively soon while we qualify for the state assistance, knowing our income and affordable limits are lower? My thought in that scenario is that we could purchase an investment property to "househack" and/or LTR/STR and start accruing cash flow to supplement our income. I am unsure if utilizing these assistance programs on an investment property vs a primary residence is a sound decision or not.

OR would it behoove us to wait our income increases, continue to save via our day jobs, and reassess when we have greater expendable income, outside of any state assistance?

Any guidance/suggestions from all of the great and experienced minds here on BP would be much appreciated as we take our first steps into the real estate scene! :)

Columbus, Ohio

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