People jokingly talk about a certain person's proposal to basically give everyone $15k in down payment assistance if they're a first time buyer and not rich, saying that all it's going to do is instantly inflate real estate by $15k across the board.

Meanwhile, the appraisal came back at 700k giving us instant equity!

My advice would be to go for the house hack option, here's why:1) You can never count on market appreciation and in a world of historically low financing rates I would suggest that asset prices are sensitive to a downturn2) You can much more reliably force appreciation by by improving an asset3) If you focus on assets that need improving you are much more likely to get a below market deal where you will have instant equity at closing4) You can get much better financing terms for a property that you buy personally rather than an investment5) You will ultimately be a better investor if you have some hands on experience6) You will get better returns on the house hack because you can avoid paying property management feesetc.Good luck!

I knew instantly that we were going to need to replace every stud in the home and basically start from scratch. 

The instant equity.

Gratz on the instant equity!  

Began listening to the podcast, and I'm sure like you all, was instantly hooked.

@Bob Prisco what I was wondering is if we instantly get it or have to wait the 3 years and see if they redeem.

If so, then you need cash flow so not likely going to find that buying today and getting instant cash flow.

Without ever consulting me, in one instant he had the plumber put in an 'emergency' water line in the yard, disconnected the water heater line, a bunch of other things that ended up costing my $5k to pay for services I did not want and to put back together the mess that was made.