My frugal plan to cut my housing costs in Bay Area: Move to OR/WA

[Susan Tan]

Here’s my potential frugal plan to drastically reduce my housing costs in Bay Area. On Thursday begins Plan A, I’m gonna ask for a raise at my current W2 full-time software engineering job, and plan B, if that raise gets declined, I’ll ask to move my job WFH full-time to OR/WA, and if that fails, I start job searching for a WFH full-time software engineering job & also visit multifamily property in OR/WA. In next 2 years, I’ll watch real estate prices go down in a Great Recession as the world economy collapses & then save up massive cash to scoop great multifamily deals for house hacking & as a real estate investor.

2 questions:
1.What can possibly go wrong? Is this a bullet-proof plan?
2. If you're a realtor or property manager who can find me good multifamily deals for house hacking in Beaverton, Tigard, Hillsboro, Portland eastern suburbs, or in Vancouver, WA, please message me to set up an intro zoom video call. For a personal multifamily residence, I prefer a neighborhood that has public transport connections into Downtown Portland. I plan to visit OR & Vancouver this summer to figure out which neighborhoods to invest in.

[Gordon Forbes]

The Dr. Evil comment was priceless, just priceless. I'd laugh out loud but then everyone would want to know what was so funny and they'd crowd around to see and then we'd all die...

Bulletproof plan? A bullet to the head or a bullet to the wallet, we'll have to wait and see. Actually I shouldn't be so pessimistic, those with guts and money who "buy when blood is running in the streets" will either do well or will go bankrupt with the rest of us. I say this from my family history perspective. Whenever there is a recession or a mild depression then "bottom feeding vultures" (and I use that term as a compliment towards those with guts and money) swoop in and buy great deals and do very well. However, in a true Depression, a real long term depression a la 1929 here is what happened then;

My grandfather owned rentals. EVERYBODY was out of work and NOBODY could pay rent so his choices were:

1) Evict the none paying tenants and let the units sit empty, have the pipes freeze, and fight off squatters.

Or

2) Let everyone continue to stay so that at least the heat would stay on and occupied units might deter vandalism.

Or so he thought...

Being a compassionate man he did not put families out into the snow. What he discovered is that with no money to pay for heat the tenants were burning his grandmother's antique furniture in the fireplace to stay warm. (This was back when renting furnished apartments was the expected norm).

So be aware, an appreciating cash cow real estate investment can have the cash flow suddenly turn the wrong way when you have to pay property tax, insurance, and God forbid a mortgage, with little to no rent income coming in. Of course your high paying wage slave job is guaranteed to be Depression proof and will provide you the money to ride out multi years worth of negative cash flow so Welcome To Oregon, our new motto is "If we are all gonna go broke anyway, might as well do it where the scenery is nice".

P.S. Be sure to budget in money for periodic trips back to the Bay Area for sushi as there isn't a decent sushi bar in this whole state.

I'm sure my attitude will improve once I'm out if this prison called Stay at Home Isolation.