Where to go? Reno? Bend? Salt Lake? Oregon coast?

[Bryan Begun]

We need to generate some more cash flow in our lives and we can go anywhere. But where to go?

I like surfing and she likes skiing in the mountains. 

We have three rental properties and they are in Sacramento, CA, Boulder, CO, and Newport, OR. We should consolidate but where?

Most of our family is in CA and one of our criteria is to be 1 day or less drive time from them. So we will eventually sell and part ways with Colorado (where we live now).

I've scoured the following markets: Reno, NV, Salt Lake City, the Oregon coast, Bend, OR, Sacramento, CA, Lake Tahoe (CA/NV) and touched on most places in between. I've put 4000+ miles on the truck in the past two weeks (and more last winter) driving the western US and window shopping many towns and markets. I love walkable towns with great vibes and vibrant communities.

We are looking to buy multifamily properties and get away from long term single family rental houses. We'd like to try a short term rental but the Oregon coast and Tahoe (two places I love) are extremely restrictive on doing this. Reno makes sense from a tax and insurance and economic growth perspective and also proximity to family but it's not a place I've fallen in love with despite spending two weeks there (one week last winter and one week more recently in the summer). On paper Reno is the best fit. In person its a place I could see maybe doing an investment or two in but its not where I really want to set up shop (I mean that literally; set up a home and also set up a wood shop - so I can build custom cabinets and stuff).

If Santa Cruz, CA ever goes on sale then I'll go there and suck it up with CA laws and cost of living, but for the foreseeable future it is not even a remotely viable option; I looked at a fourplex there generating $10k in monthly income and priced at $2,700,000. 

I do most of the work on our properties myself so any advice about investing out of state for better cash flow is not my jam. My jam is to build and improve to get better equity and cash flow through value add. 

So the question to the community is this: where is there a decent supply of multifamily properties, investment properties, and also nearby amenities such as the ocean or the mountains? Where is that vibrant community of wonderful people and walkable neighborhoods? What are the easiest places to fall in love with where one might also flourish doing a little real estate investing?

[Brian Kloft]

Personally I would never touch a CA property due to the laws. I know there are those that make money there but to me that risk is not worth it. We have a few properties on the Oregon Coast. I have even recently started a facebook group to help investors on the Oregon Coast connect. Personally we like the Oregon Coast but you do need to keep on top of the laws. While they are not insane like the CA laws they do have some gotchas, which for me as long as I am aware of them don't really bother me because of the type of Landlord we are, while others don't like them. We have been trying to look at the Reno market but I apparently have amental block on actually diving in. I think some of it is that I have gotten comfortable with the 10,000 person towns on the coast that are so easy to quickly get to know that trying to get to know a big city like Reno is just a bit overwhelming. However with that said it is still of high interest to us. We live and invest in Phoenix AZ so we don't want Vegas due to the extreme weather like Phoenix. Reno is nice that it is that little bit cooler but not so cold like Idaho. Reno is much closer to Phoenix in being Landlord friendly and business friendly. We have also tried looking at places in Utah as there is a lot of beautiful land there, but initial looking online made it seem like the numbers just didn't make sense. Our daughter just moved to Bend and from what I have seen it is a great place. We plan to help her find a nice multiplex to buy and live in as her first place. It really seems to have a great vibe and is an extremely outdoor activity driven place. 

From what you have described my suggestion would be to look at Reno and the Oregon Coast. They both have their plusses and minuses. I also do most of the work myself on my property renovations which can be a big plus on the Oregon Coast, however Home Depot is a 1 - 1.5 hr drive away and in some of the cities there isn't a single hardware store open on Sundays. As far as setting up a place for you to live, if you don't find the vibe in Reno you could look at Carson City so you can easily still work on your properties in Reno and sleep in your own bed plus you are close to all of the outdoor activities at Lake Tahoe. Sorry my ost kind of rambled along but it is late. If you want to chat more just let me know as it seems like we are both in similar places, other than I have no family in CA.