Single or MFR (Duplex)

[David Fals]

I am a newbie investor looking to purchase my first rental property, and I have been caught between going for a single-family or a multifamily rental. I am scared of servicing two mortgages in the case of a vacancy. I saved up the down payment for a few months and have a few remaining as emergency funds. I would not want to go for the single-family and then run into a vacancy, as I foresee that could happen as one of the cons. How did you all start out? I am basically looking for a cashflow property in the Lehigh Valley or anywhere else, but I would love to visit the property as I am staying in the NJ/NY region.

[Bryce Jamison]

I'm a huge proponent of having your first investment be as easy as possible. To me, this means a SFH used as a LTR within a 20-30 minute drive of you. If you run into vacancy, I'd recommend lowering the rent $50-100 bucks a week until someone is interested. I'd rather loose $100 a month than 2-3 monthly rent payments. Zillow makes renting out properties super easy.

Cashflow is getting harder to find. What I've seen lately is most cash flowing properties are in C, or lower, areas which come with a lot of headache. If you can find something that breaks even after all expenses like repairs, CAPEX, vacancy, etc, and makes a few extra bucks, it may be a win. Hopefully we'll be able to reinvest to lower rates eventually, and long term I'd expect the property to appreciate.

Getting a few months experience with an "easy" deal will give you more confidence and knowledge to take o more complex deals.