Recent Orange County Investor Looking to Make Moves & Connections

[Seth Bradley]

Hello everyone! I'm a real estate / real estate finance attorney that just moved from Charlotte, North Carolina to Orange County, California.

I currently own two buy and hold and looking to buy a third. I have househacked each time. The first one is a duplex in Morgantown, WV, which I lived in half and rented the other. Now, I have a property management company taking care of it for me. I bought another single family home in the booming Charlotte, NC market, which I lived in up until my recent move last month. I moved to Orange County, CA and rented my 4 bed, 3 bath house in Charlotte. I'm currently crashing with a friend until I figure out my next move!

Obviously the SoCal market is a beast, so I'm not looking for a miracle. I'd like to househack my way into a multifamily property anywhere between Long Beach and San Clemente. I work in Costa Mesa, so that's about as far as I'm willing to commute. My perfect househack would have 4 units, under the FHA threshold ($636,150), would need some work, and be a reasonable appreciation bet. The closer to Costa Mesa and the water, the better. I'd also consider a single family "live and slow flip." I'm willing to slum it and/or live through some renovations to avoid paying rent again.

Long term, I'd love to get into some flips locally in SoCal and buy and hold cash flowing properties from afar. The "subject to financing" is also an interest and being in finance, I think I could pick it up pretty quickly. Even though I don't hate my job, my end goal is to achieve "financial freedom" and have the option to walk away at some point.

I'd love to meet some folks in the area and I'm open to any suggestions and information on how people in this market invest in real estate. Thanks and I look forward to being part of the BP community!