House hack in Bay Area

[Wenqian Guo]

Hello!

Housing hacking seem like one way to be able to afford to live in Bay Area. I’m currently paying 2k+ per month for a tiny studio...would rather that money go towards my own mortgage instead ... I have around 200k saved up, and trying to pay as little as down payment as possible. Are there agents in Bay Area who can help me out on properties that are below 1 million..I’m a first time home buyer..I remember first time home buyer I can put down as little as 3% down payment???

[Arlen Chou]

@Wenqian Guo congratulation on making the first decision move on going into owning property in the Bay Area. Be very careful as you move forward because you will get many sharks swimming toward you now that you posted your financial base. This will include real estate agents and people who claim to be contractors. There are several very good meetups in the Bay Area, go to those and vet the people through several points. Although everybody seems very friendly on the forum, not everybody has your best interest in making a recommendation or giving advice. I have personally had issues with contractors on this forum that seemed very nice, but in the end, were total frauds. David Greene is obviously well known and there are many people who can attest to his work. But it is worth the time and the effort to find somebody that you personally feel comfortable with that has been vetted by people you personally know. You will be spending a large amount of money, time and effort on growing your portfolio. Make the effort now to find the right team before you commit all of those resources based upon the faceless recommendations of people on a forum.

Good luck to you on your journey!