All Forum Posts by: Max Maloney

@Amit M., rub it in a little more, would you? :) Just kidding - it's awesome to hear you've got such a great quality of life here! Lucky for me, I'm still enjoying my particular W2 "grind" and I'm still very young in my career - your situation sounds like what I'd love to have someday! :)

The 2-4plex owner/occupier plan won't work for me, as I already have a condo that I dearly love in Duboce Triangle. Would you still recommend a 2-4unit building as a first (non-residence) rental property for someone like me starting out? 

Cheers! It indeed is a beautiful day in the city today!

@Alex Vidal, thanks again for your awesome advice in this thread!

-Max

Hi everyone, 

First off, I want to say thank you for all the information so far! You've all been 

@Jay Hinrichs, If I were to go out of state, I'd love it to be in an area that I could see myself moving to someday... Portland, OR is definitely such an area. Good to hear you mention that Oregon might be an opportunity.

Oakland is definitely an interesting area for me. It's extremely close, but prices are more affordable. I'd look at buying in a newish building that's not subject to rent control.

@Mark Shaffar, Thank you for explaining the all-cash offer! It makes total sense to me know. I wonder what percentage of all-cash purchases get refinanced right away? I would imagine quite a few, at these interest rates!

@Alex Vidal, you hit the nail on the head - most the info I find is about trying to buy in SF Bay Area when you can't afford a down payment. In my case, I COULD, but I need to run numbers to see if I SHOULD. You articulated this a bit more clearly than I did - thanks! Anyway, I definitely see real estate as a long term investment. You've also made a very good point about CapEx costs vs. property values. You mention plenty of opportunities for 2-4-plex properties between $0.5-1M. Two questions: Would you recommend multi-unit properties in the Bay Area vs. apartments/condos/SFRs (and why)? Also, what markets are you referring to in the Bay Area?

@Account Closed, I spent about half my year in Austin in 2013, and absolutely loved that city. I wouldn't mind owning there, either. With it's recent boom in growth, do you still see it as a good investment opportunity? Or is it becoming a less desirable investment location? 

Thanks all for the great discussion so far!

-Max

Hi everyone, 

I'm hugely impressed with the quality of information I've found here so far, so I wanted to say hi and introduce myself. My name is Max, and I'm a San Francisco native. I'm in my late 20's and a Mechanical Engineer at Apple. 

I'm here for 2 reasons: 1) I bought my primary residence in San Francisco in late 2014 and I caught the "bug" of real estate - I just can't stop looking at properties! I find it hugely entertaining. 2) All of the successful folks I've known in life have owned several rental properties, and really enjoyed the rental incomes as a retirement cashflow later in their lives. 

So, I'm interested in learning more about purchasing rental properties. 

I have a little over $325k in the stock market right now and I'd like to diversify my overall investments by moving a hefty portion of this into a rental property downpayment. My struggle is this: Ideally I would like to buy my first rental property within driving distance so that I can manage it myself - but as we all know, the Bay Area is quite expensive. Is the Bay Area really only a good deal if you're looking to make money on raising property values? Is it not a good cash flow environment? Would I gain a better cash return if I look in other markets, possibly out of state? 

Or, if investing in a place in the Bay Area is possible for someone with my amount of free cash, what sorts of properties / areas do you recommend looking in? 

Another question is: If I look in a cheaper out-of-state market where I would have enough for all-cash (or at least much more than 20% down), is this even an option you would recommend? It seems to me that with interest rates so low, I'd be a fool to put more than 20% down on a place no matter where it is. Am I missing something? Why DO people make all-cash offers? Related to this question is - would it be a better overall investment to pay down my current mortgage in big chunks over the next few years so that I can own my home outright within the next ~7years, and THEN start looking at rental properties?  (I realize that this is more of a question for a financial advisor, but just curious if anyone else has been in the same boat!)

I realize these questions are a bit broad, and I'll look forward to narrowing my focus (and my questions) as I learn more. 

Thanks!

-Max