Inputs on River Islands, Lathrop

[Rahul Samskruthyayan]

Hi BP,

I joined recently and this place is so helpful. I’m a newbie to real estate investing and currently living in Fremont,CA. Because of COVID, I’m working from home for the past year, and most possibly I would be doing the same this year as well. My intention is to move to the new house and stay there until COVID ends while renting out Fremont property, and return back to Fremont property by renting out the new property. So I decided to look out the outskirts of the Bay Area and started exploring Tracy, Brentwood, etc. Recently I came to know River Islands at Lathrop and visited a few weeks back and felt that it has good proximity to commuting to the Bay Area because of ACE and BART expansion. 
Just checking to know more about your thoughts ?

[Willie Marquez]

@Rahul Samskruthyayan, River Islands is a fairly new community (as @Pawitar Singh mentioned), so Crime will likely not show up in any online maps, such as Realtor.com and Trulia.com. In addition, there are so few homes in these areas per square feet that the maps likely wouldn't show you the crime concentrations that they do for more established communities. 

I agree with Pawitar that these homes are high-priced, which you should expect given that these are new homes. This gives peace of mind since you will be living in the home. Much of the people who live here are from the Bay Area, which implies that the neighborhood is more affluent and likely more safe. I will say that I have a couple friends who live in this community and while crime isn't high, they do still have crime. More specifically, people from neighboring cities have targeted the area because they know the people who live here have money. An occasional car break-in is not out of the question.

I also considered purchasing in this community but I decided not to for two reasons: 1) there likely isn't any appreciation available here in the short-term since it is a new home and is priced high in a hot market. I am looking for value-add properties at the moment. 2) while there is more space in this community than in the Bay Area, you can get a lot more space for your money in cities like Stockton, Manteca, and other parts of Lathrop if you know the safe neighborhood pockets to buy in. As someone who has lived in the Central Valley, these homes in River Islands have almost no backyard, front yard, or space between units/homes. Privacy is definitely a question. 

Let me know if you have any questions about Stockton. That's my specialty.