Househacking in South OC??

[David Le]

Hi everyone,

Complete newbie here who just discovered the world of BiggerPockets and real estate investing. The past few months I've been trying to learn and absorb everything RE related on my journey to financial independence. I've decided the best way for me to start is to find a duplex/MFR to househack, but as you all know, Orange County and Southern CA in general is a completely different animal than anywhere else (excluding maybe the SF Bay area) when it comes to values and finding deals.

Am I kidding myself to expect to find a decent deal for a duplex for my first purchase and househack in South OC (Irvine, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest) area? To be honest, I'm thinking I should keep my floor at $350k+ to even start with, up to maybe a max of $600k, even if it's a fixer-upper that needs some work. In this market, I don't expect to cashflow or even break even each month, but if I can cut a big chunk of my rent from the $2200/mo for a 2ba/2br apartment by renting out a unit, that would be awesome. Is this even realistic?

I'm not in a hurry so I'm patient enough to wait until I find a good deal down the road, have a decent down payment, and steady job history. How should I proceed? Thank you all in advance for your help and looking forward to getting out there!