Sacramento / Stockton New Investor - SFH

[Chou D.]

Hello all, My wife and I live in a place where it's next to impossible to own a SFH (the place is SF Bay Area haha) However, with our hard earned savings we want to start our journey into RE, and so we thought perhaps a SFH a little away far the Bay Area as a buy and hold (10 year horizon) might be a good idea. 80% chance we rent out the place forever, but 20% it turns into our primary residence if < 3 hour drive from the Bay Area. We're open to either self-manage or work with a property manager.

We thought something in the range of ~300-400k with 10-25% down that cashflows even if it's just $100-$200 a month. Hopefully in 5-10 years asset prices and rental rates appreciate to make up for the lack of cashflow.

The Math (I was purposefully conservative)

What can go wrong, and how bad of an idea is this?

What are some areas you'd recommend? Also looking to generally connect with local professionals in the area to generally learn more and network.

cheers!

Deepak