Newbie from Torrance, California

[Kaitlyn Masai]

Hi BP community! 

My name is Kaitlyn and I'm a newbie from the Torrance, South Bay area of Los Angeles. I have been listening to the podcast for a couple months now. Josh and Brandon are awesome so I had to check out the site. I more recently started reading real estate books and BP blogs. I find myself most interested in buy and hold investing for retirement. I am in my final year of a Ph.D. program, so I'm waiting to finish and save up some money before buying property. In the meantime, my goal is to learn as much as possible about REI. If there are any experienced investors in my area, I would love to meet you for lunch or coffee sometime (my treat, of course!). I also want to say a big thank you to all of you who have spoken on the podcast; your knowledge and experience is invaluable.

A question for real estate investors in California: I have realized the many cons of buy and hold investing in this county and state. Are any of you holding property in California? If so, do you recommend it for new investors? I wanted to house hack with a multi-family property but now I'm thinking buying out of state may be a smarter move.