Hello!

I'm new to BP and very excited to start in my investing adventures. My family and I are about to make a big move to a new city, Richmond VA, and I would like to take advantage of our moving situation to begin investing.

Should we looking into a multi-family house (probably a duplex or quadruplex) and live in one of the apartments or buy a less expensive house as well as a SFR for the investment portion? I thought about living in the rental for a few years and then renting it out once we had more cash flow and could afford something else. I keep reading a lot of investors start with living in the rental property but what is the downside to this?

Anyone in the Richmond, VA market that could offer advice? Are there multi-family opportunities or more SFR in this market? I've been to visit a few times and searching online daily, but with such a large and changing area, it's been hard to get a feel for what's actually happening.

Thanks,

Jessica

Hey Jessica, welcome to BP. Richmond is a great and improving city. Lots going on, and it’s changed so much (for the better) in the past 7-10 years. It’s a strong rental market because there are tons of millennials moving into the city who have student loan debt and don’t want the commitment of a mortgage.

As a native Richmonder, my sense is there are way more SFRs around here than multifamily opportunities. Multifamily properties are in short supply. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but they’re scarce.

Hi Kenneth! Thanks for the advice, I've been looking around for properties and am finding exactly what you said, multifamily properties are limited. I am looking forward to moving back to Richmond, I lived there briefly after college, and glad to hear the city is doing well.

@Jessica Stevens

House hack.

More units to draw rents from.

If one of the tenants doesn't pay, the others carry the mortgage or at least a significant portion of it

You can use the projected rents based on the comparable rent schedule to qualify.

Stephanie