Looking for multifamily and live in one rent others near Bay Area

[Sho Nakagome]

Hi all,

I'm looking for advices. I'm planning on buying a multifamily property in areas such as San Jose, Fremont, Dublin, Walnut Creek, Vallejo, etc with price of 1 - 1.5 M.

Live in one and rent the others. I understand it is difficult to even get break even but for now I'm looking to offset part of the mortgage and get tax benefits + appreciation.

I work in the bay and my wife is willing to spend 750 hours for real estate and filing jointly.

We don't want to live in San Francisco or Oakland / Berkeley area.

Out of all the conditions above, 1) is there any general recommendations or pitfalls? 2) What are some good areas where I could get better numbers? What we prioritize is 6+ school ratings, safe neighborhood, multifamily with preferably 4 units (we don't care too much about how small each unit is), 1-1.5h commute to the Bay (near Millbrae).

Thank you all for your insights and helpful discussions on this forum.