All Forum Posts by: Jessica Skupien

J. Martin we have not yet met, I haven't been to any meet ups yet and unfortunately I'll be in LA on Tuesday. Hopefully next time because i would love to talk to other folks investing in east bay. It seems so daunting given the prices and seeming lack of inventory.

welcome @Sharon Tseung! 

I'm a newbie from the Bay as well (Oakland) and hope to make my first purchase late 2015/early 2016, depending on when/where my husband gets transferred with the Coast Guard. Aiming for an owner occupied 4plex.  

In the short time I've been on BiggerPockets, everyone has been SO nice and helpful and I've learned a tremendous amount from the BP Podcast (it helps that Brandon and Josh are hilarious). Also, Rich Dad Poor Dad was the catalyst that changed my whole outlook on my future so happy reading!    

Good luck and hope to meet you at a Bay Area meet up soon!

Elizabeth Colegrove thanks so much for the thoughtful response! I just checked out your blog and it was really encouraging. I always assumed my career would be ruined by moving every couple of years but the concept of REI has given me an alternate perspective. I will definitely continue reading your blog. Brandon Turner thanks for the welcome. I was just listening to episode 6 of the BP podcast. You and Joshua Dorkin are super informative yet maintain a hilarious humor that literally makes me laugh of loud. I'm so psyched to have found this place!

@Vince Williams thanks for the insight.  will definitely be sure to do my research first so I know when a bank/lender says they can't, it just means that THEY can't, not that I can't.  :)

Thanks, everyone! Really appreciate the insight and suggestions. I've never really participated in any sort of forum before and am delighted with how engaging and welcoming you all are! @Jon Huber @Jay Y.  @Paul Timmins I'm from the Boston area originally and will likely end up back there at some point in time. How's the market out there? I have a number of friends who have just purchased their first homes there (not for investment) which is more than I can say for my friends out here.

thanks for the response, @Eric Zou!  from my limited perusal of forums related to Oakland, J. Martin and Arlen seem like the go-to guys!   just read arlen's post about his recent deal near temescal. I don't mean to imply there are no cashflow deals here, just that the ones that do exist are perhaps a bit of out my league at this point in time, being a newbie and all.

aggressiveness is part of my DNA, hopefully it doesn't get me into trouble in our REI endeavors :)

congrats, arlen! a quick Craig's list search suggests $1,250 is reasonable but as someone who has lived in 4 different apartments in the past 3.5 years (one in North Beach SF, one south of Temescal, one in the Oakland Hills, and now on Lake Merritt) and seen the average rental price for a two bedroom go up at least $1000 over the past year alone, $1,250 seems like a steal to me.  I'm sure you'll have no problem renting them out. 

Hope to meet you at one of the Bay Area meetups at some point!

Hi everyone!

My name is Jessica and I'm so excited to join this community. My husband, Mike, and I are just starting to dip our toes in the REI water by learning as much as we can about multi-unit cash flow properties in particular. We have no past experience in real estate investing but we're really good at learning new things and the internet is a remarkable place filled with lots of useful information!

Mike is an active duty service member (Coast Guard) so we will probably pursue a VA loan for a 4plex as our first investment once he gets re-stationed in 2016. Right now, living in the Bay Area, it seems unrealistic to purchase an owner-occupied cash flow property given the inflated market here (does anyone disagree with that?).

My short term goal is to quit my corporate consulting job and become a full time investor at some point in the next 2 years. I'm also considering becoming a Real Estate agent to help facilitate our investments though I'm still trying to sort through the pros and cons of that approach.  

Longer term, our goal is to have enough properties to generate a sufficient passive income to live off of. But who knows where this journey will take us in the process!

So thankful to have found the BiggerPockets community (heard about it on a Money Tree Investing Podcast) and that we were fortunate enough to avoid the draw of expensive guru programs.

Looking forward to getting to know you all and eventually being able to contribute our own knowledge!

Jessica

This is all very helpful information, thanks! My husband is in the Coast Guard and we will likely look to buy a 4-plex with a VA loan once we're transferred again mid 2016.