New Member from Emeryville (SF Bay Area), CA

[Aaron H.]

Hello All!

I recently discovered this site and am amazed at how active it is!  So great!

I'm an inadvertent real estate investor since 2010.  I bought my first home in Emeryville in 2010, when the market was just about at its lowest.  That home was a duplex.  I bought it because it seemed like a good deal and I thought the additional unit would help me to keep costs down for my mortgage.

Well, fast forward 5 years.  I've got some equity in my house and I've been saving some money.  I'm ready to take my next (and this time deliberate) step to becoming a real estate investor!  My long term goal is to own enough rental properties to be able to retire. 

In the short term, though, I've got a choice between adding a small ADU (or studio) onto my duplex, if allowable by Emeryville's codes, or buying a second rental property. To buy another rental property, though, I would need to look out of the SF Bay Area, as the market is ridiculous.

I have some questions on financing a second rental property, namely, do I need to be able to qualify to carry the debt of my current house and the rental, even if the projected rent of the new purchase can more than cover the monthly mortgage payments?

Anyway, I'm excited to be a member of this awesome community.  I'm soaking up all the information I can!

Aaron