Looking to connect in San Diego

[Roy Gonda]

Good Morning Everyone!

First of all, I’m really excited to be a part of the Bigger Pockets community especially the San Diego Community. Been living here for about 6 years including my years at UCSD. I had originally saved money for a decent town home in La Jolla (crazy, right?) since I thought this area was beautiful and would have great rental income if I ever moved away, having the university in the city and all. Quickly realized that the Rent vs Price of the home didn’t make sense so I decided to hold off on buying a home for myself and pursue Real Estate investing.

What I’ve done and what my goals are: I’ve read the Book on Rental Property Investing, The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor, Managing Rental Properties, and estimating rehab costs. I’ve been looking at mainly rental properties the National City, Normal Heights, Escondido, El Cajon areas but have done some research into other areas in the San Diego County as well. My focus is mainly rental properties but I’m also interested in flips to acquire more capital to buy more rentals. Using the calculator to vet 2-3 deals from Loopnet, Relator.com, and Redfin has been fun but I’ve been having trouble finding fixer uppers in the area where the numbers make sense.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. I would love to connect with people actively investing in the area as well so please comment or shoot me a message!

Thank you all for your time

[Ben Biggs]

Hi Roy, 

Welcome to the site! There's not a huge BP presence (that's active) in SD, but myself and @Aaron Lawson are trying to get a La Mesa BP/REI group going.

Those are all good areas for rentals, the one thing I would say to keep in mind is that San Diego is a break-even market. You can get your hands on some solid rental real estate, and let your tenant pay most of or all the mortgage, and then sit back and let your portfolio grow, but don't quit your day job! 

I work at a real estate firm that does flips/urban infill/commercial development/capital partnerships/ etc. And I see a-lot of deals from flippers and wholesalers come across my desk. The margins are not really there for flips right now, but it depends on your criteria. 

Feel free to hit me up anytime if you want to brainstorm. 

Best, 

Ben