It's a terrific day in San Francisco

[John Barnette]

Hi all, officially now a new member of BP. Though been a reader off and on for a while. Looking forward to interacting with you all on here, providing advice, seeking advice, and so forth. A little about me: Realtor right in the city of SF for 15 years. Midwestern born and educated (Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Oh), and spent 3 yrs in Denver. Bought my first place in Denver at 24y/o...condo in historic Capitol Hill chopped up mansion conversion. Been building ever sense. Nice little portfolio of 2 SFR in SF, 2 condos in SF, 2 houses in an Oakland/SF suburb Richmond, CA. Have done 10 flips over the years as well in Bay Area. Sitting in a great cash flow and appreciation position.

In reading it seems like there is a lot of back and forth in investment opinion/strategy of California appreciation game vs. midwest cash flow game.  Both are valid.  

Question: Where are locations or styles of property that likely offer good appreciation and good cash flow?  "Good and reasonable"...not extremes of Cali or Indianapolis.  Like other trendy growing cities such as Austin, Portland, Denver, Raleigh/Durham?  Or play demographic trend and do B/C level Florida locations, Arizona, ??    Ultimately when I no longer want to be a Realtor and also manage my individual California properties (semi-retire), will hopefully have a large chunk of equity to 1031 into larger multifamily somewhere.

Or style?  Mixed use, commercial, college town student housing, etc?

Thanks all.

John

[Larry Fried]

@John Barnette Hi and welcome to BiggerPockets! I assume you mean Indy has good cash flow, but not the appreciation, while Cali has appreciation without the cashflow; and your looking for something in between that has some of both - the answer may be the holly grail.  What you want to do is focus on one, while giving due consideration to the other.  For example investing for cash flow and taking appreciation as a bonus, but focusing in areas that are not going to deflate  - and have reasonable appreciation currently with growth in population, employment, and other good economic indicators.