New Member from Orange County, CA (Lake Forest area)

[Ruben Parra]

Hi everyone!

What a great community we have at Bigger Pockets! I'm already halfway through the podcasts since joining only a couple of weeks ago. I look forward to participating, learning, and hopefully partnering up with some of my fellow BP members.

Now a little bit about myself.

My name is Ruben Parra, and I work as a Program Manager in the Power Electronics Automated Test field. I've been living in Lake Forest for 7 years now, enough time to see the OC housing bubble burst and blow back up again.

Being still single, I haven't found the need to take out a long term loan for a primary residence in this overvalued market just yet. Unfortunately, I was a too inexperienced to jump into the 2010-11 bottom. I'm quite the contrarian, so I'm patiently waiting for the next housing correction in SoCal, where I could pick up my own home at a discount price. In the mean time, it makes more sense for me to invest as much as I can while still renting. Are there any others out there in the same boat, being successful at REI without owning a primary residence? Maybe you can share your experiences with me.

My goal is to generate (and increase) passive income through cash flow, while keeping my full-time job. I intend to purchase my first rental property within the next 3-6 months. Hopefully, in a couple of years I can post my own success story of gaining financial independence, like many have here in BP.

I look forward to building long lasting relationships through BP in the very near future!

[Larry Fried]

@Ruben Parra 

Hi and welcome to BP! I am an investor who does own his home as well.  In fact much of the investment dollars I've used came out of owning a home in northern california that appreciated greatly in the 5 years we owned it, 2001-2006.  However I know there are many in California who don't own, and choose to invest their $$ in rentals out of state.