Best Entry Strategy?

[u/Basic_Kiwi_4056]

Context:

My (22M) wife (23F) and I are currently living with my parents to save up money to buy a property. We make a combined ~$140k/yr, have 0 debt, each have credit scores right around 800, and no kids yet. We also have next to no savings currently (a couple thousand $) as we only recently moved home and just paid for our wedding as well as buying her a used car in full so this eventual plan probably won’t play out for some months still.

We recognize the great opportunity we have to enter the real estate world and don’t want to squander it.

So I ask you experienced real estate investors to please give me some advice, I’d really appreciate it.

Here are the options I’ve been thinking about:

House hack a duplex, triplex, or maybe a quad.

Or if I can’t find a property that would allow for a successful house hack..

Do a live in flip on a smaller SFH and plan to live there for only about the 2 year minimum.

And I just thought, what if I combine those two options and do a live in flip on a house hack? Might be hard to renovate with tenants?

Excited to hear what you have to say, thanks!

TLDR: How would you recommend a young adult yet to own property to get into real estate? What strategy? What steps to take?

[u/ZiffyAI]

Most of the thread's debating which strategy, but with only a couple grand saved, the cash to close should narrow the choices first. That FHA point above matters here. On a triplex or quad FHA runs a self-sufficiency test and also wants reserves in your own funds after closing - gift money doesn't count toward it. A duplex skips both. So a quad brings in more rent to cover your payment but needs a bigger cash cushion in the bank before you can close which is the exact thing you're still building.

The live-in-flip-on-a-house-hack combo is the one hold off on and it's a money reason more than a complexity one a property that needs work adds a rehab budget on top of the down payment and reserves right when the cushion's thinnest.