Hello from SF east bay newbie

[Greta Tseng]

Hihi,

I am a RE newbie from the San Francisco bay area. Recently found BP online and have fallen in love with the podcast~! (Great job, Brendon and Josh!)

We got our first primary home in 2012 (good timing) but latter realized it’s not a good investment buy. (One of the best school district in the east bay but with comparatively low rental return and negative cash flow...ouch..)

I’ve heard a lot of successful stories that meet 2% rule and have positive cash flow with less than 20% down payment. However, I don’t quite see those deals in my neighborhood near Fremont/Union City. Condo/townhouses that produce $2000 rent/month will easily cost $400-500K and a single family house of $3000 monthly rent will be around $700K. I am interested in knowing what the investors’ perspective on a market like this? Given the strong momentum of housing demand in the bay area, is it still an attractive market to invest? How would you advice a newbie to start her RE investing (who can only afford $400K~ property) in the hot market like this?

Look forward to all your perspectives!

Cheers,

Greta

[Jordan Thibodeau]

Welcome Greta! Cash flowing properties in the bay area are nearly impossible to come buy unless you bought at the bottom of the market or you're using one of your units as a meth lab.

I live over in SJ and I travel up to Sacramento to look for cash flowing duplexes.

IMO: Condos are not worth the hassle of dealing with HOA politics and dues.