Greetings from San Diego!

[Yonna Collier]

I'm new to REI and would love to connect with others in the area. As a newbie, not sure if I should invest locally or out of state.

[Maxwell Ventura]

@Yonna Collier

Recommend investing locally first if you can. If your goal is to house hack and/or purchase something owner occupied I'd recommend taking advantage of an asset that is going to appreciate well overtime. Especially w/ your ability to leverage debt and come in w/ low money down w/ an owner occupied loan.

One train of thought is to diversify your RE portfolio just like anything else. So ask yourself, where is my money best used in which situations? Remember there are 4 portions of your return. CF, APR, tax savings, principal paydown. The SD market is prime for the long term, low money down owner occupied (at least initially) play. When you see the compounding gains you'll make on APR over time on a spreadsheet it tends to connect the dots.

In regards to CF, SD market has great CF over time but INITIAL CF is poor compared to other markets. However, rents are increasing between 3-4% a year here and the rental market is just as competitive right now as the purchase market. An increasing rental market will always follow an appreciating housing market. So, CF is actually quite good here when you really dig in.

Hope this helps,