San Bernardino, CA

[Aaron Mazzrillo]

I get hits on the key word San Bernardino about once a day. I cringe any time I see a newbie investor talking about investing there, especially when it comes to multifamily - which I absolutely would not be interested in owning. San Bernardino is SoCal's Detroit. It is bankrupt and operating with a skeleton police force. Crime is rampant. Just tonight, one of my vacant rentals that I'm selling retail was broken into yet again. My neighbor called to tell me all the lights were on and the windows were painted white. The house has already had the wiring stripped out, garage door stolen, A/C stripped, and lots of other miscellaneous vandalism such as rocks through the windows, garbage dumped there by illegal contractors looking to unload carpeting, cement, etc.

I hopped in my truck and drove out there. I caught 5 people coming out of the house. They jumped in a vehicle and drove away - across the front lawn. I was able to detain 2 of them. This is the type of crap and crackheads you'll be dealing with in that city. And this house is actually in a decent area. 

I called 911 and it took them 45 minutes to show up. The officers that responded were telling me how bad it is. They even started questioning the two crackheads I caught about another crackhead they found shot in the temple over at some homeless camp. I guess they wanted to see if they could pick up any tips.

I wish you luck if you chose to invest your money there, but I'm out. I've decided it is time to cash in all my chips in that horrible city and take my risk else where.

If you do decide San Bernardino is right for you, the first thing you should do is go over to Bass Pro and pick up a 12" Mag Light and a nice hand gun.

Good luck to you!

[David Friedman]

While you are correct that you have to deal with the occasional crack head, I’ve made more money in San Bernardino than any other city and not just on a percentage basis. I’ll  make $60,000 on a $300,000 house in San Bernardino and make $50,000 on a 600,000 house in LA. High turnover equals a lot of deals. The more people you scare away, the more deals for me. Thank you for the post :)