Newbie From Bay Area, California

[David Affonso]

Hi BP Community,

I'm a newbiew to BP and real estate although I've been interested and researching for almost a year now.  I've recently moved back to the South Bay (Palo Alto, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, San Jose) area working my dayjob in the IT staffing industry as a recruiter and account manager with Apex Systems.

I've done some research over the last year and I'd love to be able to set a 1-2 year goal of buying a multi family (2-4 unites) with an FHA or other subsidzed first time home owner loan.

My target area is in Santa Clara in between the University and the Cal Train station.  This is close to my work and my girlfriend could caltrain into downtown Palo Alto (where she works) and I think it would have long term value as the Bay Area gets moer congested.

I know Silicon Valley is a tough market for newbies, but I'm really curious if anyone has had any success with this recently.  I'd live in 1 unit and rent out the others, but really my goal would be to find something at least cash flow neutral if I decided to move out and rent all units. 

I haven't seen any properties yet, but when I do some napkin math based on trulia and other appraisal site it just doesn't seem possible in this market.

Either way I've been to a few local REITs and really look forward to getting more involved in Bigger Pockets.  Any advice for the above scenario would be fantastic but also just a warm welcome would be nice.

Thanks a lot Brandon and Josh for the great podcasts, really helps with the afternoon commute.

Best,

David Affonso