Greenhorn in the Ca Bay Area

[Michael Swope]

Hello everyone! Stumbled on bigger pockets after picking up Brandon turners book on rental property investing. Love the community aspect of bigger pockets and furthermore the aspect of like minded people! I'm in my infant stages of education and wanted to know of what other avenues to educate myself. Currently I'm making a laundry list of book from the Podcast shows from their guest speakers, looking for meet ups and trying to connect with realtors / brokers is the Northern California area to see my options. I've always been intrigued with the idea of renters paying for someone else's mortgages and potential income on flips. Doesn't help that I'm pretty hands on and like to get my hands dirty. Now that I'm financially stable and have the ability to us my VA loan, I feel like it's a good time to take a leap into real estate investing. One road block is that I live the city of San Francisco.... If people are not familiar with the market, I pay 1500 a month to rent a room with the average price for a home is in the million range. Any information or lessons learned would be much appreciated! Especially using the VA loan. Also wondering if any one in the sf area wanted to meet up / trade books/ ideals/ lessons learned.

[Carolina Solorzano]

Hello Michael, 

I also live in San Francisco and was paying $1700 in 2011 for a 475 sq. ft junior one bedroom until my husband and I decided it was time to buy. We've had ups and downs of property ownership in SF, however I still think it's a great investment... and if you're smart about it, you can always make money here.

The biggest meet up that I've seen here was @JMartin's August weekend in Oakland, but there's also groups on meetup.com. Let me know if you would like to meet in person and guide you along the way.