Newbie from Santa Clarita, CA looking into buy and hold rentals

[Brett D.]

Hi everybody.  I'm in Santa Clarita, CA... northern Los Angeles County.  My wife and I are in our forties, have established careers with steady incomes, and in our second purchased home.  We're currently in the process of refinancing our house with a $150,000 cash out.  Our goal is to use around 2/3 of that for a rental down payment, and a third for repairs and improvements.  It would be amazing to find something within half an hour of here, for convenience and to hopefully self-manage the property.  Though it sure seems nearly impossible to find deals where the numbers work within our budget.  To be fair, we haven't gotten the pre-approval yet (hopefully within the next week), so our realtor and we haven't gone too hard.  We have a realtor and mortgage broker, but will still need connections with inspectors and contractors.  At the same time, we also consider long-distance investing, where we can get more for our money.  There's so much to sift through and consider!

Thanks Bigger Pockets and community!

Brett Durfee