If you wanted to do a 1031 exchange down the road to use that equity and trade up then that'd be a good idea.The homes I’m looking at buying are in the 330,000-350,000 range.

Just say no.I would almost never do this trade unless all my downside, including potential unknowns, were completely compensated for. 

@Pixel Rogue everyone has different future plans - many though haven't thought that far ahead!

Your plan to house hack a multifamily property in Indianapolis is a great strategy to start building equity and learning the ropes with manageable risk.

In two years I plan to pull equity from my home, rent it out, and purchase another to live in for two years..

If you elect to use a VA loan, that typically means you don't plan to put any money down.

We have some of those calculators we plan to to add in 2025 for those who want it all-in-one.

@Anthony KolbuszBRRRR method is a fantastic strategy, especially with your trade experience.

Rent-a-plans?

Generally larger commercial properties and shopping centers are easier to classify with hard and fast rules, but to the points above the residential areas really move very quickly and have way more nuance than most people care to admit.zip codes are generally way too large for my liking at least in my market to provide any kind of insights other than macro level economics but even then highways or rivers that cut through a zip code can end up with totally different trade areas.we can get pretty granular with cellphone data and with grocery center data to understand the trade areas and their true boundaries, but that kind of data pull is generally only cost effective for investors doing larger scale projects or developments, and honestly we still just end up getting on the ground and feeling it out, so I generally tell people that the money is better spent on a plane ticket and weekend trip in the area you are looking rather than any kind of "trade area" level data studies.and generally B class in 1 area means something different than another.