@Jose Alvarado,
Welcome to BP! Funny... I own property in Oakland, but just got a rental in San Francisco! lol So we've switched!
I house-hacked a 4plex in the East Bay for my first property, and own some buildings in East Oakland and West Oakland. I think the triplex owner-occ exemption is a great opportunity, if it doesn't get taken away.. You have a pretty good rent price in SF, but if you can find a property that works for you, it might be a good opportunity. Personally, I'm waiting until unemployment is high before I buy something else (unless I really love it!)
Regarding financing, I used FHA on the first house-hack, but I don't think banks were as loose on offering the 5 or 10% down then. Either way, I just barely scraped together the cash for the downpayment at 3.5%. To me, cash was very precious at the time, so I probably still would have paid the low downpayment and saved any extra cash I had.
I believe one of the big differences b/t FHA and low-down conventional is that FHA Mortgage Insurance doesn't go away any more (unless they re-changed it) - whereas conventional normally goes away after you get to 74.9 or 79.9% LTV.. whatever their requirement is..
@Chris Mason could give you a better comparison. He's a lender. I don't know all the technical details and tradeoff here..
What areas to avoid in Oakland?
- depends on what you're looking for. My best cash flow property that I wish I had more of is my property on 82nd Ave in deep East Oakland. I also own in West Oakland, which is more up and coming. But still spotty. If you're going to be living there, you'll have to think about for how long and what you're willing to sacrifice. A lot of people like stuff near BART, Fruitvale is up and coming, Eastlake is going to explode IMHO (I have some rentals near 2nd & International and lived over there), North Oakland / NOBE is already there (have some rentals near 55th & Genoa), as is downtown - uptown is getting "hipper" and a lot more restaurants and bars moving in (check out the hive). It's all a tradeoff..
Laws and regulations about owner-occupied rental properties in Oaklandhttp://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/hcd/o/Rent...
- When to apply for pre-approval? Before or after I find a property?
Before!!!! Market is too competitive to screw around with that after..
@Eric Clayton,
"Unless your job is in the East Bay and you need to be in or around Oakland, I would avoid that all together."
Where's the love for Oakland Eric!?! lol It's blowing up!! Seemed like no one paid too much attention until Uber decided to move downtown Oakland, but anyway.. Send some of those Oakland wholesale deals you don't want over this way!! Contact info in my signature.
@Chris May pointed out more of the established "nice" places. Harder to make the numbers work there sometimes, but probably less variability in where they are going.. a little more "tried and true."
@Brent Tarnow,
Preach it!! lol I own there and have lived there. A lot of people that don't like Oakland have spent little or no time there.
@Amit M. has points too. Easy come, easy go for some of Oakland.... West Oakland is getting overheated and probably the best representation of what Amit is talking about IMHO. 100yr old duplexes split into 2 condos and sold for $500/sq ft apiece, with a project or people getting shot around the corner.. It's close to SF - and I think it will have a higher "floor" than the last crisis (probably won't go back to $100/sq ft) - but I think it will take a dip. We'll see when unemployment gets to 6, 7, 8%+..
