Invest in tomorrow, why you should buy a duplex

If you are an aspiring investor but don't know where to start, than consider buying a duplex. 

Living rent free, being next door to your tenants and residual income as soon as you move out. These are just a few of the reasons that you should consider buying a duplex instead of a single family home for your first investment property. 

Living rent free- 

Unless your'e still living at home than your probably not getting away with living rent free. The great thing about a duplex is that you can live in one side and rent the other out. If you get it at the right price you can pay for the whole property with the rent you're making off one side. Assuming you're living in one side and renting the other out you are living rent free. 

You are next door to your tenants- 

At first this may seem like the last thing you would want. But the decided advantage with this is that you can keep a much closer eye on things than you could otherwise. Rental properties can be a great source of revenue but they can also lead to an excess of repairs if your renters trash the place. This can be prevented by screening tenants to a large degree but the knowing that you're watching is likely to help keep them in line. 

It is residual income as soon as you move out- 

All that money you were saving in rent can be turned into passive income as soon as you rent the other side out. This means that whatever you're renting the side you were formerly living in for is now profit every month. This means that as long as both sides stay rented you have residual income every month. This residual income can be used to reinvest into more real estate or for whatever you wish to do with it. 

But thats not all- 

Just because you can doesn't mean that you should. This is true of real estate as well, the natural thing to do is borrow money when buying a home since most of us can’t afford to pay cash. I would caution you to be careful when doing this for investment properties. It is by far the trend to buy and have 2,3 or 4 investment properties that are financed. This is dangerous because you are on the hook for every mortgage payment regardless of whether or not it is rented out. 

Start small and make sure you have an emergency fund in place when you own investment properties. You have liabilities such as repairs and maintenance that is going to come up inevitably. If you have repairs that need to be completed before a new renter can move in you need to account for the rent you are not getting as well as the cost of repairs. So all that to say that if you're going to invest than do so with a plan. Because failing to plan is planning to fail.