New member in San Diego CA

[Joseph Shea]

Hello BiggerPockets!!  My name is Joseph Shea, and I've recently discovered BP and it looked like a great source of information on the multi-family industry.  This is what I've been involved with since 2009, when I bought a 4 unit here in the La Mesa area of San Diego.

I'm a retired Navy, current DOD employee working in San Diego Ca, and I'm originally from Massachusetts.  I've been here in SD off and on for the last 27 years.  I've always found my way back here somehow and enjoy living here but the real estate market is just too crazy right now for me to have any luck finding another property.  Everything seems high, and my inexperienced eyes just don't see any quality opportunities.

So I own/occupy and manage a 4 unit property that I bought for 620K with a conventional in 09, when I came back from an overseas tour. Over the years I've remodeled all units, found great tenants and brought the property up to market. I haven't had my property appraised recently but doing a few comparisons from recent sales show low selling CAP rates and with what I get in rents I'd say my building had gone up in value considerably to around 900K, possibly higher?? It's been a great experience overall, with a few bumps of course, but not bad at all.

I'm trying to figure out what options are available for me to acquire another property and increase my cashflow.  Not sure if I should take my savings and just buy another property, and basically (hopefully) repeat what I've done here in CA over again somewhere else, or 1031 into something larger.  After reading topics here there seems to be many ways to finance another property.

I work full time so would lean toward a buy/stabilize/hold approach but would consider other type deals if they make sense.

Thanks for reading!  Looking forward to working with the BP community! 

Sincerely, Joe Shea