Buy 2 small or 1 big?

Hi All,

Currently bought a PPOR Townhouse @ $429K 3 months ago. Loan borrowed at @ $330K. Equity @ $90K. Rental should be $390/wk to $400/wk.

Now have some savings, by mid next year would have saved $60K – $70K.

I am thinking should i

1.) buy another IP below $400K, with this budget will probably be an old 2 bed 1 bath unit.

or

2.) sell away this PPOR and buy a bigger house (with more rooms) with a bigger land within 10kms of Brisbane city with a budget of $600K. Using this option, i can rent out the extra rooms and still treat this as PPOR.

Most of my investor friends are telling me to go for land, since land is the one that appreciates.

Also, i would be going to work in overseas in 1-2 years time, thus will have the chance to change my loan to the foreign currency homeloan with a lower interest rate, of course it comes with a risk of exchange rate.

Any comments are much appreciated.

Cheers
Nit