First-Time Investor looking in Oakland/SF

[Jarrett Coggin]

Hey there fellow BP members! I'm ready to take that next leap in life and started looking at building income streams outside of my day job, so I'm a first-time home-buyer looking for a multi-family "house hack", ideally a four-plex (but will be open to a tri-plex). I'm just starting out and here's what I'm looking for currently:

1. I'm looking for a lender to know what I can be loaned, to discover what my available options are, and to understand how feasible things are at this point in time. (HIGHEST PRIORITY - next 3-7 days)  
2. I'm looking for a Real Estate Agent who knows Oakland (and San Francisco would be nice) really well. 

I would love to answer any questions you have for me and I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

Other notes: I've been through most of the home-buying process before (about 5-6 years ago) so I'm not entirely new to the process (got to the point where I was negotiating an offer, but we couldn't come to an agreement). I've been doing a bunch of research here and am starting to read books to really get a good idea of what I'm getting myself into. 

I also appreciate direct communication as this is "business mode" for me mentally speaking. I'd much rather someone say, "You aren't ready for this because of X, Y, and Z reasons..." instead of, "I think you might want to look at something else...". I have no problem going back to the drawing board and focusing on a shorter term step to make sure I'm actually able to be successful at this.