New investor from Westlake Village/Thousand Oaks California

[Galen Herbst de Cortina]

Hi everyone! I'm Galen Herbst de Cortina.

I'm new to the site and figured I should do an introduction. My wife and I grew up in Westlake Village, Ca but moved to Madison, Wi for work. We're moving back now! Unfortunately for me I'm only just starting to research real estate investing; it's been painful to realize I'm moving from a booming development area with relatively low prices. It's especially rough to realize that there's the state government, the university, and several major employers all of whom bring in renters!

My wife's currently getting us ready for our move and then looking for work. I'll probably end up continuing to do the healthcare IT consulting that I'm doing right now- I stumbled in to it when looking for a job post college graduation and it's hard to leave something that lucrative. Especially if I'm looking to buy real estate in California! Besides that I'm going to grad school to get my CFP and start my own financial planning firm. I'm hoping that some of what I learn there is complementary to real estate investing.

I know California prices are crazy but I'm looking forward to learning more and seeing if I can find a deal. Currently I'm most interested in buy and hold and in two to three years my wife and I are probably going to try to go the house hacking route. Looking forward to meeting and learning from a whole bunch of you!