Moving to Oakland/Bay Area in 2 weeks from Boulder, CO. Advice?

Question

I have accepted a job offer and will be relocating from Boulder, CO to Oakland /Bay Area.  I am hoping to find an inexpensive room to rent in a safe neighborhood (I'm used to the Boulder Bubble) but within 10 miles of the Oakland airport ( I'll be commuting by bike most days to the office on Bay Farm Island).

Any and all advice about moving to the Bay Area is welcome!

Some more details:

- I'm a 34 year old, single male, recently divorced and would like to be near an area where people go out.  I've heard Lake Merritt/Temescal would be good.

- I'll be renting out my house in Boulder, CO as my first experience in REI.  I will be cash flow positive above my $2250/month mortgage/ins/taxes.

- My goal is to follow Scott Trench's ideas in Set for Life and  hopefully rent a room for under $1200/month to save some extra cash and use it along with my current savings to buy and house hack a duplex/triplex/fourplex in 4-12 months in the Oakland/Emeryville area.

- I consider myself very handy since I have renovated my entire house 99% by myself and pulled permits.  I am comfortable with fixer uppers in good neighborhoods.

Does anyone own rental properties that is looking for someone to move in between September 15-Oct 1st?

Is anyone selling a duplex/triplex/fourplex in Oakland?

Any advice about finding a place to rent?  From what I can find from my research, it looks like I need to get out there in person and explore some neighborhoods to find out where I want to live and then be ready to pounce with first/last/security the day it hits Craigslist.  Is this true?

I'd love to start networking with other Oakland based investors/RE agents.

Any reasons not to buy a multi-family in Oakland these days with all of the rent control issues?

Ideal scenario in my head is to buy a multi-unit, live in one, update it, rent it for more, move in to the next unit, update it, rent it for more.  I assume I can easily NOT renew a lease if I am moving into the unit as owner occupied and the tenants shouldn't be able to fight it.

Thanks for all advice and anyone who would like to connect online or in person for a drink and to talk REI.

Scott

Scott Hibbert · Answer

@Jared Bouzek Thank you for the referral!

@Scott Trench It would be great to meet up for a beer before I leave.  I'll DM you.

@Robert Marston Thanks for the advice and looking forward to connecting in person once I get settled.

@Dan Mackin It's been great meeting you here in Colorado and I expect to be back a few times per year.  If it lines up with the meet ups, I'll be sure to join. I'll check out the Summit in the Bay Area.

@Chris Mason Thanks for the insight.  Looking forward to connecting in person in Oakland.

Chris Mason · Answer

Thanks, @Jared Bouzek.

Hi @Scott Hibbert,

Oakland is an incredibly large city by land area, and highly neighborhood dependent. Any time you hear someone say "Oakland is ___________" without specifying a specific area in Oakland, just know that they are automatically wrong. :)

Robert Marston · Answer

Renting in the bay is tough. You are correct in that once you have identified a neighborhood and you see a rental listing come on you need to run there immediately with credit reports and money. It is my understanding that you will pay first/last but not an additional security on top of that unless you have a pet. So, you should not be paying first/last and security, if you are asked to def do your research! If you are renting a room from an individual they may not know this!

$1,200 a month for a room in a home is doable, I highly doubt you are going to find your own place at that price point in Oakland though, especially if neighborhood quality is of concern.

Lake Merrit is fun, they have all sorts of events there and you can find people from all over the world there on any given weekend. There is also a great abundance of food options around Lake Merritt and the Temescal neighborhood, so much diversity, it's really nice being so close! Oh, and if you are a beer guy then do we have you covered out here. Oakland has so many craft beer locations now it's hard to keep track of them all!

Rent control exists, so you would want to plan your purchase knowing that and come into it educated. Start with some reading here: http://rapwp.oaklandnet.com/

Craigslist and Facebook are used widely here for rentals. Search some facebook groups, keywords like "Bay Area Housing" will get you some results that you can start to watch for pricing trends for neighborhoods!

Jared Bouzek · Answer

@Scott Hibbert Make sure you connect with @Chris Mason if you haven't already. He is located in Oakland and could help you with a lot of your questions about that market.

Robert Marston · Answer

@J. Martin - Nothing I see online I take personal =) You are correct in everything you said, First month and security deposit is the way it should be. Pets generally come with an additional deposit.

When I am looking at room share on Craigslist and Facebook the majority of those posts state they want three sets of monies - First/Last/Security. I was more just trying to drive home that he should not be paying that much. I am not a rental expert so only wanted to ensure he knew that three sets was no good. I am glad you are able to come in and clean up my post and provide great value! Thanks!

J. Martin · Answer

@Scott Hibbert,

Welcome out to Oakland!! One of my favorite cities in the USA :)

Congrats on keeping and renting out your SFR in Boulder with positive cash flow. I said when I started that I would never sell a property, and so far have not (knock on wood.) I own and operate around the Bay Area, and lived on the Eastlake side of Lake Merritt for a while.

RENTALI have some furnished rentals near Lake Merritt and elsewhere in Oakland, but wouldn't be able to quite get to your price point. (these are all private (not shared) places.) But Craigslist is the #1 place for sure. Look for shared housing. Good for you for keeping your rent low for the area and saving your cash.

RENTAL TERMSI respectfully disagree with @Robert Marston on his security deposit statement:"It is my understanding that you will pay first/last but not an additional security on top of that unless you have a pet."

And I say this specifically because I believe that's an extremely poor landlord practice, don't want you to do it when you become a landlord, and is not consistent with the market.

If you're taking 2 months worth of cash, half should ALWAYS be the SECURITY DEPOSIT, and specifically state in the lease that the money CANNOT be used for the last month's rent. I believe it's in the standard CAR lease. If they give their 30 days' notice and apply any monies with the owner to the last 30 days while they live there, you have zero deposit.

This puts the ball in the tenant's court. You have to come try to get the money for any cleaning, repairs, etc. Instead of them having an incentive to get their money back rightfully from you. No no no. And don't expect to get that treatment as a tenant. Unless you can find the right sucker. (Robert, no personal offense. But I strongly believe in everything I say above.)

I also have a meetup in Oakland with just fun stuff - totally not related to real estate. I think the name on Meetup is Lake Merritt, Oakland, and Beyond.

Duplex - 4plex for sale in OaklandI own a duplex in West Oakland with a partner on BP. Wouldn't be insulted by an offer. To really unlock the value of the property, someone needs to owner-occupy the property to utilize the owner-occupant rent control exemption. We do not plan to do so right now. So surprise us ;)

NetworkingThe Summit is awesome if you can make it and a great way to get introduced to the area and different topics from BP folks all in one weekend. We'll also be having an "investing in the SF Bay" panel with successful local investors making it work in a higher-cost area. Definitely go to the local meetups on BP, and there are some good ones on Meetup too. @Johnson H.'s in Milpitas is my favorite.

@Dan Mackin

Thanks for the shout out, and all your help on the Summit last year! That was amazing!

Rent ControlYes, there is an issue with your problem to fix, then evict/move, then evict/move. If you're living in a unit in the building, it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to evict an additional unit as an Owner Move-In (OMI). Especially repeatedly. I can barely touch the tip of the iceberg on this, but here's the relevant info:

Here is an (older) summary from legal counsel:"Once a landlord has recovered possession of a rental unit for either the landlord’s use or the use of a relative, no other unit may be evicted for owner/relative move-in. Any future evictions taking place in the same building for an owner/relative move-in must be on that same unit."

https://www.tobenerlaw.com/oakland-rent-control/

And the city's rules and regs:http://rapwp.oaklandnet.com/resources/faq/

I'll be in Seattle for the next couple weeks, but hope to meet you in person when I get back or at the Summit :)

Dan Mackin · Answer

Sad to hear you're leaving the area @Scott Hibbert. If you want to make some good connections and learn a ton while you're out there, check out @J. Martin's summit at the beginning of October. I went last year and highly recommend it.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/445883-san-francisco-bay-summit---oct-7-and-8-2017---join-the-reunion

Angelou Masters · Answer

riding your bike to bay farm island will be a bit of a hike but is very doable from the fruitvale area, laurel ,or Maxwell park. If you were to live in the Lake Merritt area you could possibly do ride as well. Keep in mind that the buses here have bike racks so you could use public transportation and then ride the rest of the way. Or better idea try and rent a room in Alameda with your budget it might be doable.

Christina M Viola · Answer

I love all your questions and I am actively interviewing for jobs in the same area to do the same thing you are doing lol  so this post feels very close to home for me, thanks for sharing and asking all those questions!  Would love to connect and follow your journey. I've been networking with lots of CA people but have found one common denominator....that CA is EXPENSIVE lol but its all relative right.... send me a text or email!

Leslie Bandy · Answer

HI Scott,

I'm a RE agent here in Oakland.  I work with lots of investors and specifically work with those looking to house-hack.  It's an expensive market (for the most part) but the rents are high, so it is possible to find something where your cut of the mortgage would be minimal.

Adding to the areas you might like: Uptown, Jack London Square, Cleveland Heights (AKA Eastlake), and parts of West Oakland.  There are some great areas here that aren't quite on the radar yet, but are reasonably safe, quiet, and affordable-ish.  Oakland is large but traversing it is actually pretty quick.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like to grab a drink or chat.  I'm happy to introduce you to this crazy place.

Leslie Bandy

CA BRE: 01990425

Moving to Oakland/Bay Area in 2 weeks from Boulder, CO. Advice?

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