Living Situation Advice

[Logan Searles]

Hi everyone,

As a bit of background: I recently accepted a job offer in the Green Bay area and am finally looking at a definitive path (at least location and job-wise). I've been in school for the past 4 years and will be graduating this December. 70k starting salary, no debt, good credit, and $35k saved up. Getting into real estate hacking with a house hack is something that I've been looking to do post school now that I have a location. I am also currently in the National Guard and also ROTC and will be commissioning this December. With that being said, I will have Army training after school starting in the end of August 2026 that will last around 15 months. That leaves essentially an 8-9 month window of living that I have a couple of options with.

Option A: My brother and his girlfriend live in Green Bay, and I could live with them during that period paying below market rents. This is sort of the "easy way out" where I'd be living cheaper and have a place up until my training.

Option B: I go through with finding a house hack in the area (possibly rent out to/with my brother and his girlfriend?) and start my real estate investment journey. I'd be looking to finance with an FHA loan meaning there'd be a window where I wouldn't be living there and wouldn't be able to collect rent, but by the time I could I'd be looking to do a lot of landlording things that are new to me from long distance and without the experience and short time window I'm not entirely sure if the idea is too far fetched.

I have no problem living with my brother, it's just if I wait to purchase, that first investment property probably won't happen until I'm done with my training 2+ years from now.

What would you do? Is there something big that I should account for that I'm missing one way or another?

I want to get skin in the game and have feelings of FOMO waiting, but at the same time it feels like I could be rushing into a headache all at once. 

Thank you for the insight!

[Paul Novak]

I am feeling the same as many others have.  I would work to build up more money for stability and learn the market over the next few months.  With a new job, moving to a new location, and school on the horizon it's a lot of change all at once.  Depending on your long term goals if you plan to buy more properties you will need more cash anyways.  Just my thoughts.