Triplex in SouthWest Berkeley - Help!

[Smitha Sandasani]

Hi BP friends,

BP has become my investment education :p and so thankful to this community!

we found a triplex in South West Berkeley and wondering how is the growth / neighborhoods there? Caprate is coming to barely 5% (somewhere around 4.9) with 25% down (inspection contingency likely but we are not sure in this market). This is our first time investing in multi family units, have 2 SFR in CA which we are managing ourselves, cash flowing perfectly. Want to get into multi units, rehabbing, renting them out. We plan to property manage ourselves if we get into multi units (leaning towards 2-4 unit properties only)

Good thing is the triplex has tenants living there and would like to continue, they are on month to month. Good or Bad, they are section 8 tenants. The house unit pics seem to be maintained ok, disclosures look ok. Rents are good too, in the market rents - could be better.

Questions, if someone in Oak / Berkeley / SF has explore or owned rentals there would appreciate if you can share insights...

1) Offer subject to inspection. So we can only see the unit(s) if our offer is accepted

2) Is it good to have section 8 tenants, does it mean the rents are deposited from the Housing Authority? what do we need to know pros - cons? Assuming with sec 8 there will be yearly inspections to ensure it is safe for tenants. And we are completely ok with that as this will also help upkeep the property and catch up with market rents.

3) Anyone had any bad stories in Berkeley area that would like to share? 

4) Is Berkeley better than Oakland? are they same pretty much in rents, cost of living, except Berkeley has the college town feeling. property is ~2 miles driving distance to UCB.

Appreciate and thank you in advance!