Primary residence or rental property?

[Daniel Gonzalez]

Hello BP community,

I am 30 y/o and live in Orange County, CA. I have been interested in real estate since a young age, and now that I am able to get started I'm stuck between two options. 1) I have been considering buying an out of state rental property. No particular market in mind. 2) I am also considering purchasing a primary home in Santa Ana because I currently qualify for a city incentive. The incentive is a $80,000 loan at 0% for 45 years, and could potentially get up to $40,000 forgiven over the course of the loan.

I will only qualify for this program until August 2023 because my income will be above the threshold. A few things to note is that if it wasn't for the incentive I would not be very interested in purchasing in Santa Ana.

Also, I have always wanted to buy rental(s) before purchasing a primary residence because I can take on more risk without a mortgage.

Since I lack the real estate knowledge I would appreciate your input. Is the incentive to good to pass on?

Thank you,