New to BP! Beginner Investor from Southern California need some advice

[Chris Nguyen]

Hello everyone!

I'm new to BP and very excited that I found this forum. I reside in Orange County, CA and have been looking for the past couple months for rental properties that has positive cash flow and I plan to buy and hold. I am finding it very difficult to find a property that even has a cap rate of 5-6%. My question is the properties around this area too over priced right now and wondering if I should start looking in other others like Las Vegas or Arizona. I would appreciate any feedback in whether I should hold off on socal properties right now because it might be overpriced right now or any recommendation on any other area that have better returns.

[Matt R.]

@Chris Nguyen

Welcome to BP! This is the best site for newbies to learn REI.

You can make money in any city and some more than others of course. I think it is important to consider all the fundamentals if you are into rentals for the long haul.

@Aaron Norris and company are SoCal experts in this stuff. If he says he is still finding deals in the IE you can take that to the bank. 

For Cali long term SFH rentals are in this order of long term profitability;

San Jose, San Fran, LA, SD, Riverside. That is also the top five for USA.

Here is some info from Zillows senior economist for historical averages on SFH rentals.

Good luck with your search!

http://www.zillow.com/research/landlord-profit-735...