Newbie from the Bay Area!

[Jimmy Liu]

Hi All,

My name is Jimmy and I'm new(ish) to real estate investing! I'm a 25 yr old who recently moved to the Bay Area, CA for a job to turbo charge my W2. Last year, I bought a condo in the area with an extra room I'm renting out. So not completely green but the year has definitely been small trial by fire, drinking from the fire hose experience. Currently learning & reading a ton. BP has been super helpful on this. 

With some income saved up (~60k), I'm hoping to get into purchasing additional real estate soon. My primary target is out of state as I want to jump right in and find cash flowing rentals and NorCal market isn't the greatest for this. Budget is up to ~300k based on my DTI. I also have the ability to save ~1-2k a month based on my budget. I'm looking primarily at Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. I'm reading David Greene's book too on the topic!

Questions I'd love to get feedback on.

• What are the differences between SFH & small multifamily? What would you recommend starting out with? Given that I'll be looking to put property management in place, I imagine the actual operations would be minimally different. Though I've also heard that there are some differences in terms of lending.
• Given that the property won't be owner occupied, I am thinking that my only option is to put 20% (or more) down. Is this correct?
• I've looked for deals in more affordable areas in Northern California (Sacramento, Merced, Stockton) and none of them make sense as initial investments due to poor cash flow. It seem that without growing income, scaling up will be slower. Has anyone had success in buying in these markets? Especially with my budget. 

I understand that the first deal is really important to build momentum and so I'm excited to get started! I'd love to meet y'all.

Best,

Jimmy