New to Real Estate Investing - What To Invest In?

[Jenna Cheramie]

Hey y'all!

I made a post yesterday explaining that I'm new to the BP forums but have been an avid listener of the BP Money podcast for quite some time now.

I'm 28 years old and live in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I've always been very conscious about finances but I'm trying to make bigger moves to get myself set up for FI.

One of my goals is to own an investment property by the time I turn 30, so I have about 1 year and 11 months.

I'm curious and would love to pick people's brains in the forums on this because from what I can tell, our market (South Florida) is not a very good market for beginner investors. That is, housing prices are through the roof and rents don't match up with housing costs.

I have about $70k saved up for a down payment right now and above an 800 credit score. Current living situation is that my wife and I are renting so would also be open to a house hack.

Experienced land investors: what is the best option here given our situation? Do I use the money to buy a house hack (duplex/triplex) and save on rent every month even if I'm not necessarily cash-flowing? Or do I buy a traditional investment property and do STR?

Really just trying to find the best use of our funds in a crazy market. Also not opposed to looking outside of our market to do long distance investing but ideally would like to get comfortable in our current market first.

Any and all advice is much appreciated!

[Erika Clancy]

Hi Jenna, congrats on getting started early :). I wish I had.  If you don't already own your own home, I would suggest starting there and maybe getting a duplex or a triplex.  That is a great way to start and in many cases you can actually count the rent that will be paid for the other units towards your income to qualify for a higher priced home. I wish I had started that way for my first property.  I would be happy to discuss further with you if you would like.  ~Erika