There are a few of you out there who don’t like succumbing to the old notion of buy a home, wait for it to appreciate, pull the equity out and buy a bigger home while making the first one a rental and want to jump into homeownership and investment at the same time. Well, I have only three words for you.

Good for you!

A lot of us don’t think about investing in real estate until we have a solid grasp on our own home. Some others live in an apartment all their lives but buy homes to rent out – yes, these people really do exist. I didn’t believe it either, but they do!

However, buying a duplex as a first home/investment is a wise move if you know what you will be in for. For one thing, you must learn to be a homeowner and landlord all in one shot and the learning curve on that can be a bit hard. So make sure not to cut your margin for error too close. Make sure to have more money put aside than you think you will need for repairs and mortgage payments and don’t plan on having the other side of the duplex rented 100% of the time. Even the best landlords don’t get that right and you will still be learning.

The great advantage to buying a duplex over a single family residence is obvious: you get a double residence for one mortgage, so you can rent out the other side and pick up a tax deduction for your side. You subsidize your own mortgage payment and hopefully build enough equity to buy yourself a home (if you so wish) later down the road and still own two rentals.

The flip side however is that you have to live with your tenants next door and share a wall with them! While this might ensure the rent is paid on time every month, it might mean too much information about your tenants as well.

However, I have met people that have made this work. And in today’s market, this might just be your big chance!

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