Depends what you are after. With kids, jobs and not much spare time - I would look for something that needs little work - so it can be rented out ASAP, has a reasonable rental return (not necessarily cash positive but so that you have room to move in your budget) and rental appeal and in an area that will improve in value. Also worth considering if it can be sold on easily if required.Investing is much different from buying for yourself - you really need to separate your heart from your head and see if the $$ stack up. Also hard not to be sucked into the romantic idea of buying a fixer upper if you have done that before. Good luck!