SoCal Rental Property-Where do you think is a good place to start

[Jacob Baboun]

Hello BP Community,

I recently relocated from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and,  needless to  say, I was shocked with the prices of property in and around LA. I am sure that this has  been discussed before (if yes, please include a link in your reply).

As a new investor looking for cash flow from rental properties, what areas do you think would be the best to look in and research that would offer both reasonable pricing and cash flow? Ideally duplexes, triplexes and overall multi-family housing.

Thank you,

[Ali Boone]

I guess it wouldn't be encouraging to tell you that I work with a lot of LA-ers who are buying in Philadelphia, huh?.... :)

You're going to be hard-pressed for cash flow anywhere in SoCal. Some folks are bound to chime in here and say you can find it, but I've not actually seen them present anything to support it. The only areas I've heard of potentially cash-flowing are Bakersfield and Fresno (all more northern). Other than those and maybe a couple of others, you'll be getting into extremely sketchy areas to make cash flow projections work here. Most people I know around CA that want cash flow are buying out-of-state. That's what I have always done myself.

Maybe some wholesalers or flippers can chime in about any options for buying a dumper and fixing it up as a way of making cash-flow happen here.