Looking for First Rental Property in Sacramental CA or Austin TX

[Au Jia]

Hi everyone,

I am in my late 20s and lives in northern California. I have been saving up to do real estate for a few years. I have a looking into Sacramental, CA, and Austin, TX areas to start my first a rental property investment. I have no prior experience so I want to do it safely by sticking to a buy-and-hold strategy. The home value I'm looking at is ranging from 200K to 500K.

Appreciate your thoughts on the

- Sacramento, CA vs. Austin, TX

- Contacts of investor-friendly real estate agents in both areas

- Action plans for a newbie (I've been reading the website and listening to BP podcasts, thank you for the awesome content). I hope to get a checklist, and would really appreciate if anyone points me to it

- Any other advice

Thank you all and hope you all have a good 2nd half of 2018 in RE investing!

[Allan Bishop Jr.]

Welcome @Au Jia - good to have you here.

Those specific markets are more on the expensive side. If you’re willing to look in nearby areas you might be able to find better deals that give you more return.

For the Austin area you can talk with @Poem Turner and I’m sure she could help.

You also might consider the market in Killeen which includes Harker Heighhts, Copperas Cove, and other cities close to Fort Hood. This is a great investment area. I have my rental there. I’ve lived there three different times for 18 years total. If you have any questions please let me know.

Checklist - as far as a document you could the forms section but step one should be to narrow your focus. Pick a market, pick a property type (SFH, MFP, etc), and the class (A, B, C, etc).

You’ve already started the next step by networking. Looking for an investor friendly agent is smart as they can connect you with contractors, home inspectors, title companies, lenders, PM’s, etc.

Then you find a deal that looks good on paper. The math has to work. Look for off-market properties too.

This will get you going. I’m sure others on BP will add in some great info. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Good luck!