First timer to help start real estate portfolio (from CA)

[Dominique Le]

Hi all! I’m so excited to be apart of this community and hope I can learn from you all. I live in the expensive Bay Area of CA. My husband and I were born and raised here. We are renting and in our early 30’s. However our plan is to move to San Diego, CA. Not much cheaper, but slightly!

When we move (sometime next year) we will rent first, however, was wondering on recommendations of a good plan to start building our real estate portfolio.

I was thinking of house hacking and buying a multi unit first so at least we can get our feet wet. I know the cash flow isn't that great, but at least it might help with paying some of the mortgage while we live there. Or maybe just purchasing a SFH fixer upper, rehab it, live there, rent or sell, then onto the next place?

Another thought I was thinking is renting in SD but start purchasing property out of city/state with high cash flow. I haven’t read the books yet, but I wanted to read the long distance investing and brrrr method books by David Greene.

Appreciate any advice! Right now we are just saving for a 20% down payment for anything that’s worthwhile.

I apologize for being a novice, but I am excited to learn and to start building a real estate portfolio. Thank you!