Should I buy a personal house first in Silicon Valley?

[Roy Puli]

Hi,

Background : I work in one of the tech companies in the bay area. I currently live in a rental unit 10 mins away from work which costs about $1600 per month including utilities. Pre-pandemic this was $2000. So it should soon go up I feel. 

Coming to my finances, I have about $180,000 spread across stocks and cash. I also have about $30,000 in stocks vesting in October. Assuming my performance at work remains consistent I should be realizing about $70,000 in stocks every year. I am not accounting for the cash bonus in this. My pre-tax salary is $150,000. Im single and have been working for 4 years now.

I came across a mountain house which I really like. It has a great view and is listed just short of $1Mil.

I am confused if I should buy this as my personal residence first or should I buy out of state houses, build my passive income and then come back to buying a house for personal use later in life. Since I am an engineer and in tech most of my opportunities are in Silicon Valley and I dont want to move out of here. 

If I do decide to purchase this house, I would be completely out of money for atleast a year after I make the 20% down. The property has an out house and a self sufficient basement that I could potentially rent out. But its secluded in the mountains and the chance of finding a renter is lower as compared to finding a renter in the city(Santa Clara). But I dont see myself investing in out of state rental properties for the foreseeable future unless I jump jobs for a better salary and a hefty signing bonus. 

What path would you choose?

Thanks for any help I can get!

[Joe Facenda]

I think you should but the personal residence first.   Get your self settled and them embark on your investing career. 

So do you need to do 20% down on the personal residence?  Maybe a lower down payment will not impact your payment dramatically but will help you preserve funding for the next project.