Family Home or Invest?

Question

Hi All-

I recently found this awesome community and website and am extremely interested in learning all I can about real estate investing.

My fiancé and I are getting married this summer- we have been planning for about a year now to purchase a starter home for her and I to live in and start building equity in property. We are so tired of renting, and although we don’t exactly need a house, we are ready to be out of a 1br apt.

After coming across this site and other tools, I’m staring to really feel we need to make sure our first purchase is a smart investment to set us up for many more ahead.

What would you look into as your first investment? I’ve looked into a live-in-flip (with section 121 exclusion) or a potential buy-and-hold property to live in as needed, until we can begin to rent and work towards a new property

Really excited to hear any personal experiences and thoughts on getting started!

Matt M. · Answer

#1 rule. Invest in your marriage. Make sure you are both on the same page. If she's onboard, then look at doing a 5% or so down, live in a year, rent it, and buy another one. Do that over and over again. One of my clients is on their 15th property this way, and they are retired at 40.

Once you have kids, things will change, and you probably won't be able to move as much, so do it now.

Jared Leet · Answer

@Matt M. I love the first rule and entirely agree- that should come before any financial investments.

I’m really interested in a process just like that- I think we are at the right stage of life to get ahead that way.

Can you help me learn a little more about what they did? I’m trying to understand how they repeatedly got a 5% down loan to live in for the year, then move on to the next. I assume you would have to get the property in a great deal below market value for the rental to make sense. I really do appreciste it!