Which city in San Francisco bay area should i start

[Atish Shah]

Hello bay area dwellers,

I have been thinking of getting started in real estate by investing in a (MFR) in the bay area. I crunched some numbers to come up with cities that offer highest rent/price ratio (in theory) when looking from high level.

I have only included BART cities in the east bay to limit my search to fewer markets. I have not included Oakland as I think that it's own beast with may sub-markets. Following is a compilation of data I came up with by using city-data.com.

Pittsburg, Richmond, Hayward, Concord and San Leandro seem to be viable options for cities with median price ratio below $500,000, with Pittsburg offering highest rent/price ratio and no rent control. Rent control rules for all these cities are as follows:

Pittsburg - None

Richmond - Multi-unit homes (including duplexes) built before 1995 are rent controlled. Single family homes, certain small second units (“granny units”), and rental of a room within a home are NOT controlled.

Hayward - A landlord must own at least five units in the City of Hayward for the Hayward Rent Ordinance to apply. a tenant who rents a single family home after January 1, 1996 cannot be covered by the rent protection

Concord - No

San Leandro - No rent control. But rent review board ordinance applies to complexes with three or more units

Of course, good and bad deals can be found in each of the above cities. But, would love to know what others think on the ease of finding good MFR deals in any of the above markets? Any suggestions on how to chop up Oakland neighborhoods will also be appreciated so I can add it to the table above.

Thanks much!!