how to make sense out of buying a rental property in California

[Sara Mofrad]

hello. how are you ? my name is sara and I live in California. I am new to BP community. I am very interested on starting to but rental properties but my issue is that in any way that I see it seems that I am going to lose money if I but  property in CA(mainly looked in san diego and orange county).

for example a 2 bed room house is around 400K and above. even the foreclosures are around 370K and above. with the down payment the mortgage only by itself is going to be around 2100. without the HOA fees and other fees . the house can be rented out around 2400. and based on the 50% rule i am going to be way behind and going to loose money. no matter how I see it , it seems losing money .

can any one please give me ideas how to make sense out of buying a rental in California please ?

thank you very much