CA small Multi-family VS. Out-of-State small Multi-family?

[Brian Lee]

Hi, I am trying to get into the real-estate and trying to buy my first property. But I am not sure what will be the best strategy to go with in this market. So I will be living in lower part of the Bay Area because of work, and my initial thought was to house hack with small multi-family property, but it seem like it's very tight market to make 0 or positive cash-flow. So I was thinking buying small multi-family units out-of-state for positive cashflow. Will it be better strategy to buy out-of-state rental property (small multi-family) first for positive cashflow or house-hack a small multi-family property in Bay Area?