Newbie From Bakersfield, CA w/ Question on How to Proceed

[Mark Barnes]

I am a newbie from Bakersfield, CA and I currently have one SFH rental property. I bought my second property in 2013 with the intention of living in it for a year and renting it out, however I met someone, fell in love, and that home turned into our personal residence, so I didn't get to rent it out. Regardless of weather or not we eventually do rent it out, I am now finally ready to get back into the REI game and pursue it regularly, and build a robust portfolio of income producing properties.

My model is buy and hold and currently I am not extremely concerned with cash flow in the short term, but rather focusing on long term wealth, residual income in retirement, and setting up my heirs for the future.  That said I am open to mixing in other models as they would apply such as flipping, straight cash flow, as the opportunities presented themselves.

In any case, I am wondering if I should focus on a SFH acquisition for my next play, or a multi family property. I do want to transition into multi families and specialize in them eventually, but I'm wondering if it would be better to do another SFH prior to establish some kind of track record.

Any feedback you could provide would be helpful.

Regards,

Mark

[Gene Hacker]

Hi @Mark Barnes  

It is always good to meet another investor from Bakersfield and Kern County.  I have rentals in Lake Isabella and work in Bakersfield a few time a week.  

Bakersfield is far from the bottom as prices have appreciated a good amount in the past few years, but pressure from oil industry layoffs have keep prices lower than other areas of CA (some of which are pushing all-time highs). Demand for multifamily investment properties has been very high lately and I don't see too many deals on market that pencil.  

I work with investors and many are doing well, doing quality flips in Bakersfield, the key is buying right.  The mid-end areas seem pretty hot right now (Class C to B-).  The oil related layoffs seems to have affected the higher end of the market a bit more than the mid-end.

There are rural areas in Kern County which have not experienced much appreciation and might have better potential for future price increases. Might be worth a look. The tenant base can be less ideal so there are challenges.