Buying an investment SFH in SF or Berkeley or South Bay

[Abhishek Joshi]

Hello all, I am a newbie to this site, and have been a landlord renting out our condo for the past decade. We were thinking of expanding our real estate portfolio, and were wondering if this is a good time to buy a SF rental property in the Bay Area. We want to play long <buy and keep forever and rent long term>, and were looking at homes across the bay area. 

We might be able to do a good chunk of down payment, and were wondering what is the best area to invest in here in the immediate bay area. Wanted guidance from this forum around:

1. Whether now is a good time <knowing fully well there is never the perfect time, so in essence, not trying to time the market>. Having said that, with high rates and the macro economy in a state of flux, wanted some guidance.

2. In terms of actual areas in the bay, do folks recommend one of the following:
South Bay <SC, Sunnyvale>; East Bay <Berkeley>; TriValley <Dublin> or SF

Or would you recommend sitting on the sidelines, wait and watch, and do a HYSA/CD to see how/where the market heads ?

Thank you so much for your inputs!

[Abhishek Joshi]

Thanks for the response @Jake Andronico. I wanted to self manage, and hence was thinking of focusing on the areas close to where we live.