Newbie from San Francisco

[Zach Thomas]

Hi Everyone, I am excited to get involved in the BP community. A friend referred me to the podcast and after listening to 20+ episodes I am hooked. I am really looking forward to connecting with this community. I am 26 years old, my wife and I live in the city and have corporate jobs (in tech and engineering). I am developing my plan for wholesaling part time. Long term I would love to get to a point of buy and hold for cash flow. The Bay Area single family housing market is a pretty steep market for me to jump into at this point, so I am currently renting an apartment. I would really like to eventually "house hack" a 4 plex to begin building equity. Anyone have any experience with this approach in San Francisco proper? Seems to be challenging to find one below the FHA maximums in the city, this where I want some help getting creative. Would love to connect with anyone out there who has experience in the Bay Area. I understand that I'm short on hard capital, but I have plenty of human capital. I am eager to dive in and help those of you who are more experienced in the community in exchange for education.

[Raimondo F.]

Zach, if I were you I would consider starting in Oakland to hack in a 3-plex. It's a bit of a sacrifice to commute in the city but you can jump start your real estate investment faster.

For owner-occupied properties, when can the owner increase the rent?

Specifically this is the hack: "The landlord in an owner-occupied building with three or fewer units may increase the rent after the landlord has lived in the building for at least one continuous year."

https://www.tobenerlaw.com/oakland-rent-control/

You can buy a duplex/triplex, get into a unit (you may have to evict as an owner/occupier and you will need a real estate lawyer). After a year you can start the process of improving the other units and raising rents. Once rents are higher you can refinance, cash out and ook for something in San Francisco. Bear in mind it's not for the faint of heart! Search for Oakland in BP and I'm sure you can find a lot of advise.

You can also do it in San Francisco (as I'm trying) but you don't have the same rule above to unlock value. This mean that you would need more $ for downpayment and for vacancies during transition time. PM me if you want to know more about SF.

Ciao,

Raimondo