All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Amit M. and @Johnson H. Too bad I really dislike hot weather. Otherwise I'd be completely happy to leave in SEA. I lived in Bali before, for work. That wasn't ideal since things are very slow there. Guess it's like Hawaii (which I've never been). I can handle the slowness when I'm completely retired, but the heat is something else. Your skin is sticky all day long and when I get that kind of heat, I feel like strangling everyone around me :)

@J. Martin I have full admiration that you could take one month of and then go back to work! I don't have that much self displine. I took a few days off and swear to god, almost forgot the way to the office!

Believe it or not, we actually just started planning this 2 years ago. The original plan was for hubby to retire and me keep working since I thought I don'd mind working. Guess I didn't mind working as long as I wasn't the only one working! :) :)

@J. Martin Awesome new forum - thanks for creating this!

Yes, would love to do this. How about July 2 or 3? My last day at work is July 10 (dang, how come you didn't sync your off month with me? :)))

But we have a shut down the week of June 30th!

SF or OAK work for me. We do want to explore more of Oakland, so that would be a great idea!

@J. Martin : Thank you! I'm super excited! But you have more properties than I do, so I have some catching up to do! :) :) *notkeepingupwiththejoneses*

MARKETS?
SF Bay Area: SF and SJ so far, will probably be interested in Sunnyvale or Mountain View in the future.

STRATEGY?
Buy and Hold

PROPERTY / ASSET TYPE?

Condo, SFR'S, Tri-plex.

SEEKING/INTERESTED IN
Potential partner in buying duplexes in SF (in the future).

CAN OFFER/KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT?

A little bit about SF Real Estate/Tenants Laws, long term and short term rentals.

OTHER INTERESTS?

Connecting with other foodies, Social Club - @Amit M.'s idea - for early/semi retirees in SF/Bay Area, domestic and International travels, even road trips (never taken one yet!).

@J. Martin Oh boy, I wish I could. But no more W2 now so won't be buying until at least next year. I just put in my notice 15 minutes ago! :)

I am with @Johnson H. and @J. Martin on the rent price. I think you should be able to rent this out for $4,200 as a SFR. I wouldn't rent it out as separate units, as you said, it will then be rent-controlled.

We just purchased a 3BR/1.5BA in Bayview and I listed it on CL for $3,500 and received LOTS of potential tenants.

I am here, I am here :) Still catching up with the forum now :)

OK, this is my favorite topic yet so far :)

I guess I'll start with the goal we (hubby and I) have in mind. Basically we wanted to enjoy life without a day job, yet be able to maintain the lifestyle we love. In our case, it will be traveling as well as wine-and-dining. When we're here however, we don't want to get bored, so the vacation rentals will keep us busy enough. We have hired a property manager to run the SF rentals, so that should be off our plate starting August. SJ is a piece of cake since the the guests are just easier to manage.

As we all know, the challenge was to have enough income to allow us to live this kind of lifestyle. We did quite a few of tweakings in our invesment strategies and figured out a way to make enough between the rentals income and other investment to support this lifestyle. I suspect we'll be doing more tweakings along the way.

Our biggest expenses are really just F&B and airtix when we travel. We are not big into shopping and don't care much about keeping up with the Joneses, so that takes out the pressure.

I really think this is easier and much enjoyable to do because both of us are doing it together. But of course it comes with some risks as well. All the perks that came with being employed will now be fully on us: Health insurance, cellphone bills, even new laptops. But hey, you live only once and who knows for how long, so might as well enjoy it when we're young enough to climb those SF hills!

@J. Martin and

@Johnson H.

I'll leave all the public speaking to @Amit M. :) :)