4-plexes in mountain view.

[Steven Bassler]

I am just beginning my journey in real estate and am looking to buy a fourplex and live in one unit. I see in Mountain View there are many 4-plexes for sale in the $350k range. Plenty of them look updated with new cabinets, carpet ect. I know that this area is notorious for being a "bad area of town" but at the prices people are asking makes it look like not such a terrible deal. Does anyone have experience with 4-plexes in this area? Are you experiencing bad tenants, crime, non-payment, sub par construction, bad neighbors, low cash flow? Has anyone had good experiences in this area with 4-plexes? Any information is appreciated. 

[Allen S.]

When you run your numbers, be sure to price in the cost of management (even if you’ll do it yourself) and be conservative with your savings for maintenance and capex.  I recently looked at a 4-plex in Mountain View where the owner had to move and he was so underwater he couldn’t afford to sell it.   That doesn’t necessarily mean the building will never make money, but he had over leveraged it so much it was a nightmare.  If you keep your debt load low enough you can find cash flow in any neighborhood... that being said we chose to invest in a different part of town..