All Forum Posts by: Ryan Weiss

Thanks for the welcomes!

Marco Santarelli: Good points. I think we're getting comparatively decent living conditions for the rent, since this house was purchased in 2005 for $660,000. So I doubt we're covering the owner's mortgage payments!

Brandon Turner Wow! Where's your complex? I would say we will stay at least 5 years, but I agree, that might not make sense. We love the area, but our family lives elsewhere. I think we're hoping to build in some equity just so we have a better chance of an exit strategy without loss if we decide to leave after 5 years. With a MF, our exit strategy isn't as strong, but I think we might be able to justify it as a better move based on the cash flow, than the equity we would hope to gain in a SF with ZERO cash flow. Staying cash flow positive is obviously the challenge. Also, I hear we can take advantage of the FHA low down payment if we live in it at least 2 years (as long as PMI doesn't eat up the rest of our cash flow).

Mehran Kamari: We actually just moved from LA, ourselves! We used to rent in Playa Del Rey. We knew it was expensive up here before moving too, but were still a little surprised by how much. We thought that $1700 for a 700 sq ft 1.5 BR apartment was a lot in Playa Del Rey! If nothing else, renting sure "seems" a little wasteful.

Hello! Just getting started on Bigger Pockets and thought I'd make an intro.

My wife and I are passive real estate investors, looking to replace some of our earned income. We currently have four cash flowing single-family properties out of state (Memphis and Birmingham), that we bought turnkey.

We're currently renting in SF ourselves, paying $2600/mo...not trivial! We have little desire to buy investment properties in California, but I'm wondering if it might make sense for us to look into buying our own home in California, if we can get a deal, have some work done on the property and hopefully get some built in equity, or build in some sweat equity ourselves. We might be open to a living in one unit of a multi-unit property too, if it's configured right.

We're primarily interested in buying in the East Bay (ideally Berkeley) for proximity to work. But this sellers market is rough!

Any tips, tricks, or connections that we could put to work for us, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, and I'm looking forward to networking with everyone!