New investor from Oakland, CA / San Francisco Bay Area

[Sim Peyron]

I'm so excited to meet new folks in this network! Putting faces and stories to all these strategies and concepts while perusing the forum as a newbie / student has been inspiring! 

I live in Oakland, CA whose RE market has been skyrocketing in the past few years. I spent the last 5 years  building a small business as the operator of an after school learning center for kids. I have been building capital to the point that I think I'm ready to start investing and could use a bit of guidance on how to either take advantage of this hot market or how to effectively invest in neighboring, more reasonable ones. I don't have a lot of first-hand experience in RE but have done a fair bit of reading and did heavy research before buying my condo and have been studying the market closely over the past few years in hopes of trading up. My plans for upgrading have been put on indefinite hold as I am now looking to put my money into investment properties. There are so many directions to go to and I have heard many different opinions on which direction/strategy to take as far as long-term goes. I'm 36 years old, probably should've started this sooner so I don;t have any more time to waste. Thank you and I hope to get to know all of you soon!!! -Sim

[Ryan Landis]

@Sim Peyron welcome! You are right in stating that there are many different ways to approach your RE investing to make sure that they work with your long-term goals. Many successful RE investors in the Bay Area start off as owner occupants in the 2-4 unit space in the East Bay (and get in with an FHA loan). There are also quite a few on BP that are extremely successful in the South Bay where price tend to be a bit higher on average than parts of Oakland/Hayward/etc. Do you mind sharing a bit about what you are looking to achieve with your RE investments?