New Investor Need advice
Hi, my names Emily. I'm 25 from central New jersey (mercer county area). It's a pretty expensive market. single family houses go for average $450k. I've been working my first 9-5 for little over 1 year. I bring home $3,700 a month and i'm putting $2k a month towards a down payment and $500 toward investments. I currently live at home i'm not urgently looking to move out but I want to get started on my real estate journey. I've saved up $20k in my HYSA and have $20k in a brokerage account that I really don't want to touch but I of course it's an option. I wanted a way to make more capital fast so I wanted to try wholesaling but it's been almost a year and I haven't gotten any deals (with my 9-5 I haven't been putting as much time as I should towards it) My main goal is to buy my first property and house hack. I LOVE the idea of people paying off my mortgage for me. I really would like a duplex but they go for like 600-800k around here. I talked to one lender so far they said with my 795 credit score and $0 debt I could qualify for $325k loan. But I need advice on what's my best course of action here. Should I keep saving and trying to wholesale, or go for finding my first property even thought I feel like I don't really have a full proof plan yet. Also I know i could get 3.5% down if I live in the property and 20% down if it's solely an investment property. I definitely need to learn more about all the loan options.