New member - looking for advice
Hello everyone, I have been listening to BiggerPockets podcasts for about 1 month now and decided to connect in the forums. I am 32 and currently in Arlington Height, IL (Chicago suburbs). A few years ago my wife and I bought our first home with my VA home loan (USMC vet), at $310K. We are now about $270K in Principal, and believe the house could be sold for $350-$360K. I have a full time job with a salary of $113K and a 20% bonus (before tax). The issue is the time it takes me away from my family. I want to begin the journey of financial freedom and I am done with corporate life. With the market potentially being at a high point, my thought is to sell the home this summer. Initially we were going to move 30 min. south closer to family and find a slightly larger/newer home (1 kid so far and planning on another). After listening to the show, this could be our chance to do one of two things in order to secure our first investment property....1. Find a duplex and house hack for a year, then move into our home. 2. Find a smaller/cheaper single family home that is a good investment property, live in it for a year, then move into our "forever home" and rent out that SFH. I am not sure if I can tap into the VA loan twice. I also don't want to spend all of the equity in our current home on an investment property and not be able to afford the down payment on our "forever home" in the future. Any thoughts? I know this isn't specific, but I have been spinning on what to do.