All Forum Posts by: Chi Wen

An alternative would be to move to the East Bay, FHA loan (maybe 10% down) on a 2-3 family in Oakland, Berkley etc. Live in one unit, rent out the other. You could maybe go as far as renting out one of the rooms in your own unit. I haven't ran numbers out there before, but I'm sure that would put you under your current 1.2k.

I just thought of a question - if you can afford traditional 20% down should you still opt for FHA loan? I know it's so competitive in CA most sellers want as much cash in offers as possible

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Originally posted by @Brian Garlington:

I used to live in The City.......and was paying to rent a room in a house........then discovered that I could buy a Condo in the East Bay and have about the same monthly payment per month including the HOA........instead if buying a 1/1 I went thr route oof a 2/1 Condo....started renting out the extra bedroom for my first househack. Now as a Realtor I encourage people to do the same thing for their first investment. We just recently helped a couple buy their first house in Oakland. It's a 3bd/1.5 ba fixer upper that has an in-law unit in the back. We coached them live in the In Law unit......in the meantime the main house is being fixed up and when it is, they will rent it out and have the renters cover their PITI.

The reason why I said we coached them to move into the In Law unit is they wanted to move into the main house,...fix it up and then they said they would "move" into the In Law unit afterward. I told them, "Once you get used to living in the main house while fixing it up, you won't want to move into the in-law unit so create the habit now and move into the in law unit".

They did.

Simple business.

We all know that location matters a lot, so i'm wondering is it better to get a smaller condo in a nicer area? Or get a larger, newer maybe SFH home in an inexpensive "less desirable" location? I was listening to one of the BP Q&A episodes and the guest said get the best place you can afford in the nicest area. So i'm thinking long term, it's hard to predict..

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So I recently moved to the most overpriced market, the SF Bay Area, for a non-tech salary job and thought it's a good time to dive into the market just because I've been renting for many years and interest rates are relatively low. I'm currently renting a room in a 3b/3b house for $1200/mo.

I realize my money is not going to go very far but my plan was to get a house (probably can only afford condo/townhouse or older SFH home in a not so prime neighborhood) perhaps 2b/2b and then rent out one of the rooms. The income can at least help cover the utilities, property tax, and/or HOA. I have around $150k for a downpayment which is peanuts here I suppose. In the future my plan is to obviously purchase another property and rent out either one of the entire homes for more cashflow - whether also in CA or out of state is tbd since money is not there yet anyway.

I guess my question is does my situation seem like a plan as far as buying in SF now with the limited $'s I have, since I'm living here anyway - or should I keep my rent and try and buy out of state as a 1st purchase? any tips for newbies will be helpful.

Thanks!!

2 Votes

All Forum Posts by: Chi Wen

Chi Wen has started 5 posts and replied 13 times.

Post: buying 1st home (in CA) to live in but also invest for future

Post: buying 1st home (in CA) to live in but also invest for future

Post: buying 1st home (in CA) to live in but also invest for future