San Fran Area Rentals for Early Retirement

[Paul Faryna]

Hi, I'm Paul. I moved to Sunnyvale, California one year ago. I work as a Product Marketing Manager for a tech company. I turn 30 in September and would like to buy my first property around that time. But let's back up. Haha that started feeling like a description for a dating site. My main goal is to reach financial independence (aka "retire") in the next 10 years. Original strategy was passive index investing but I now see I can throw some gasoline on the 🔥 by investing in real estate. The best strategy for this goal seems to be rental incomes. My goal is about $40k per year which is enough for me, my girlfriend (soon wife),our 2 dogs, and eventually, kids to live on forever. Rent ratios here are terrible so I'll likely invest more than an hour away or even further (out of state). Share your stories if you've done something similar and I'd love to chat!

[Thomas S.]

What you are looking to do is highly unlikely unless you have a great deal of money to invest. The old no money down hype is exactly that. 

Depending on your cash flow you could be looking at owning lot of door in a very short time. If you cash flow $100/door/month your looking at owning 34 doors to receive $40,000 K income. If you are buying $100K properties you will need about $700,000K in cash for down payments. It is doable in 10 years but as you can see you need deep pockets to start.

Investing in real estate is normally a long slow process to wealth not a race.