Bakersfield has your name all over it! I heard it through the Grapevine:) 100 miles due north, and easy drive. 100 miles due north, and easy drive. wikipedia Grapevine is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California, at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley.[1] The village consists mainly of roadside services. thanks, Matt

Matt, I have read that some companies have chosen to locate the distribution centers in Bakersfield because they need to move so far to break the old union contract. And Bakersfield is a the closest place to LA that is still far enough to break away. I am not sure this is true but something I have come across a few times. Asif, my suggestion on finding good properties is to get online with zillow, truia, or realtors.com and find a dozen or so properties that could be a good fit. Then spend a day visiting the neighborhoods and getting a feel for the area. I think most people can get a feel of a city the size of Bakersfield after spending a few days exploring. The other option would be to reach out to a few Realtors and if one seems like a good fit, work with them to find a deal. I don't really know the Palms Springs market so I cannot add any insight there.

I have rentals in rural Kern county (Kern River Valley) about 45 minutes from Bakersfield, but I do work in Bakersfield regularly. Prices are up around 30% or so from the bottom but I still see deals where investors are buying and will likely squeak out a little cash-flow. There are some pretty rough areas in Bakersfield but there are tons of areas with homes built in the last run up that still produce a decent amount of foreclosures or short sales...but the overall number of these deals are much lower than the past few years. The economy is pretty stable with farming, oil, The University, and distribution centers. Its small enough that I would recommend spending a weekend driving around and looking at different areas. After that I think one would have a reasonable idea of the areas they would prefer and the areas they would avoid.

@Matt Rosas. I had to repeat this…. Do you own anything in Bakersfield? I had a conversation with a friend who lives there about this very subject. I think the North west end of Bakersfield is what she recommended. I'll check again for zip codes. @Raymond @Raymond B. Thanks for the tip!!

Lancaster/Palmdale is even closer. Don't need the grapevine for that area! (Very clever comment Matt R. )

@Francis A. Matt R. thank you for the bakersfield Idea, These are the areas i was looking at 1. Riverside county (Corona, Palm Desert) 2. Palm Dale/ lancaster How do you guys figure out which area would be better, besides the unemployment rate. Now i am definately thinking about bakersfield as it has its own local economy structure.

Hi @Asif M. Well, the board clearly loves Bakersfield... my concern would be with your prospects for long term appreciation, which is often harder to achieve in the tertiary/outlying markets. Based on your answers above, you've also ruled out most commercial (if you don't want all your eggs in one basket) and partnerships / JV's. This leaves you squarely in the SFR and small multifamily arena, unless you take @Jay Hinrichs advice and place you capital in private loans. If you did your yields would be better, but of course you would have no shared appreciation. Since you've put the 3hr limit on distance from LA, a preference for appreciation (I assume over yearly cash flow) and noted you're handy I'd suggest looking into a emerging B or C market in LA. I'd find a fixer that no longer fits the needs of the market and resolve the problem. An example would be finding a small 1 bedroom SFR or a duplex that has singles or 1 bedroom units and add square footage and/or beds and baths to make it more "rentable". Again, you're interest in a long play leads me to believe you'll both, find better chance for appreciation and have more time to be hands on with your property due to it's proximity to your home. Best of luck. Keep us posted on what you decide. A

@Gene Hacker Thank u for the advice I'm going to look into Bakersfield. Any suggestions on where to find the properties in this area. Also what would u recommend btwn Palm Springs or Bakersfield

Yes good point Gene. I forgot about the massive distribution centers at the Grapevine. Turns out this location is a days drive to about 50 million. LA, SF, DIEGO, VEGAS, PHX etc. Back in the day there was US Army Fort (Tejon) at the pass as this was a closely guarded transport area for Cali and there were banditos raiding the shipping. The army even brought in Camels to help with shipping over the pass. thanks, Matt

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Updated over 10 years ago on 07/28/2014. Most recent reply

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Asif M.Poster

Los Angeles, CA

Buying & Selling Real Estate

What would you do

Asif M.Poster

Los Angeles, CA

Posted July 19, 2014 12:40

If you had 200k, your strategy is buy and hold Want to get something close to Los Angeles as possible, not more then 3 hrs drive from LA. No hoa properties What would u do. Sorry no 3m here

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