House Hacking in Competitive Market

[Keeya WangJones]

Hi,

I am thrilled to be here. I have a full time job that I love as a product design engineer and I want to fulfill my other dreams which is owning my first Multifamily home. I want to learn more about House Hacking. Loan tips, self-property management, and how to get started. I have an agent and we are looking for the right opportunity that meets our expected numbers from ROI, Cash Flows, Cap Rate, 2% rule, etc. I learned what I know so far from Brandon Turner's Rental Property investments and BP podcasts and Property Investments for beginners.

My coworkers are investors and brokers. We are all engineers in one way or another. Huge real estate inspiration!

Now, I'm ready to start! 

I'm all about buy and hold. Next 5-10 years, I want to own 2 properties. Quadplex, Triplex, Duplex. I have concrete goals but I live in a very very tough market. Behold San Diego, California. 

I'm not sure how to get MLS to search for properties. Zillow and Trulia are limited. I have alerts on Loopnet.com and my agent. I would like to know if there are anymore resources. I crunch numbers on deals before I view it to see if it meets my goals financially for 10 years, 15 years, 30 years. Equity and cash flow but most importantly tentants pay mortgage while I take my hardworking tech money and put it towards my spouse and I future is my top goal. If the numbers work out then I can care about viewing the property and hopefully it is a neighborhood that I want to live in.

So how does one get started? Is there a meetup for BP San Diego?

Cheers,

Keeya

[Kevin Fox]

Hey @Keeya WangJones

Welcome to BP!

Your plan of investing in 2-4 unit buildings in SD is a great strategy and I applaud you for your "numbers first" perspective (very few of the newer investors I come across figure out this mentality as quickly as you have appeared to).

In regard to your question about the best way for someone without a RE license to access the MLS in SD; I think Sandicor's 'Client Connect' site will be your best option. It has the most up to date/reliable information and it's connected directly to the MLS, so there is very little difference between this site and an agents MLS access. Let me know if you'd like for me to get you set up on that.

As for meetups, a few other local BP members (@Tim G.) and I host a free event each month that meets at an active investment property and reviews the pertinent details of the deal and helps t explain numerous facets of REI. The next one will be 9/24/16, so feel free to shoot me a PM if you'd like more details.