New member from San Francisco Bay Area

[Tupac J.]

My name is TJ and I live in the East Bay across from San Francisco. I've had an interest in real estate for over a decade and would like to focus more attention on achieving my goals in real estate. My goal  is to generate enough passive income to offset/replace my income outside of my current career.

I currently own an investment property that I bought 8 years ago that has been cashflow positive. Up to this point I've done everything myself (research, property management, etc), and I'm looking to expand my network and find a mentor(s) that can shorten my journey to get to my goal. Someone that can help me talk through the options on what to do with my current property (hold it, refinance, 1031 exchange), and help me get my footing. I've built up a decent amount of equity so I'm not starting from scratch, just want to make sure I’m increasing the amount of cash flow in my next transaction.

I do have a real estate brokers license, however I’ve haven’t been able to use it because the industry I work in restricts me from representing another party in a real estate transaction. I view it as useful tool at this point, but would still consider myself a bit of a newbie since it is not something I’ve engaged in daily.

My preference is to invest in the Bay Area, and I’m open to Southern California (palm springs area) since I travel between the two often. I’m fairly risk averse, so investing out of state is not something I’ve considered at this point. 

My other goal is to build more purposeful relationships in the real estate business, rather than just stumbling upon resources like bigger pockets by chance. And to hopefully find partners to participate in transactions. 

Cheers!