All Forum Posts by: Tea Houck

@Arlen Chou you are definitely right about that. Still being new here I'm not sure of how many personal details are acceptable to share (or that I want to!). 

I think meeting up is a great idea. Thanks for letting me know about this weekend's and for the offer to chat. Quite unfortunately we'll be out of town this weekend but I have been wanting to go to one. I've joined two groups on meetup.com that were created by BiggerPockets members, and I'll keep my eyes peeled on the forums for any upcoming ones.

@Chris Mason, @Arlen Chou @Amit M. and @Edward Sittler

Thank you all so much for your input! I tend to agree with you as well about the short time frame. That's one area where my partner and I differ, but I think he is willing to hold longer term if prices drop after we buy.

The insights about HOAs have also been eye-opening. 

We initially considered multi-family but decided against it due to strict rent control laws in Oakland and the significant premium on multi-families that don't currently have tenants. Our budget is small and the type of multi-families we can buy are in areas we don't think will appreciate. We can put down about $100K and have extra cushion for renovations/closing costs.

In your experience, if you were advising two newbies, would you WAIT to buy in Oakland until prices drop? We are not likely to be able to score good deals off the MLS and we don't have the financing to buy a fixer-upper. We have to buy something in decent shape (in order to get a loan) and there is heavy competition for these residences. The idea to add value to the residence is one that could potentially work.

Because of high prices/competition and our newbie position, my risk-averse side is telling me to wait, but then again, I can't get over the open houses we went to for renovated SFRs in East Oakland. Absolutely swarming with people (techie/millennial types), even in areas I didn't think were very nice. Seems like good signs for appreciation (and as Chris said, the FICO scores are proof).

Hey Bay Area investors, I've been spending the last couple weekends driving around Oakland and going to open houses. My partner and I are intent on buying in Oakland as our primary goal is winning the 2 - 3 year game on appreciation. We may hold longer than 2 - 3 years depending on where life/jobs take us. For now, we rather bet on housing than stocks.

Here's the dilemma. Do we buy a condo in Lake Merritt or a SFH in Fruitvale?

Lake Merritt Condo:
Pros: less maintenance than a SFM. Lake Merritt, especially Adam's Point, is already a gentrified area. Uber is moving in just a 20 minute walk from Adam's Point in 2017. This could cause prices to inflate to SF levels.
Cons: HOAs are extremely high making most properties in Adam's Point cashflow negative. Plus, we may have missed the boat in terms of appreciation. Right now a 1bd 1ba is going for $550k. Will they get to SF levels where 1bd condos are going for $800k or more?

Fruitvale SFH
Pros: more likely to get a deal on a place that needs some renovations. We could get a place for $500K or less. Could renovate and add value. No HOA fees. Potentially cash flow break-even.
Cons: more maintenance costs for a SFH. Less sure what type of person our renter would be. Plus, the area feels like it's in the early stages of gentrification, but I don't have evidence that it will be more gentrified 3 years from now. Many parts still have higher crime and lots of unsightly buildings and businesses. Will it change?


I'd love to hear your thoughts about these two areas and about the two types of properties in them. Thanks so much in advance everyone!

No edits! I have a small typo --> "I just did a drive around"

Thanks for posting this article. I've also lived in the Bay Area my whole life!

I did just a drive around of Oakland this weekend. It is pretty difficult for me to believe that Jefferson, Fairfax, Arrojo Viejo, and some of the other neighborhoods in East Oakland listed are going to see that much appreciation. Already on the east side of Lake Merritt (Clinton, Bella Vista) I saw areas that I thought "no way this is going to appreciate". And East Lake Merritt is closer to the action and to nicer areas than Jefferson, Fairfax, etc. 

Here the author says about an East Oakland home: it "is not only unstaged, it's not even cleaned up–a decision that would seem to reflect confidence in the ability to sell the house fairly easily". I disagree with this. That might be the case when selling a home near the Piedmont border (a fixer upper like this lasted 1 day on the MLS). I think there is no point in fixing up and staging a home in Jefferson or Fairfax because the buyer who is attracted by a shiny house would not buy it in that area.

Perhaps investors might start looking to buy and refurbish and rent homes in that area but who are they going to rent them to? Not techies or millennials, at least, not yet. 

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Incredible responses everyone, thank you. Thanks for pointing out the difference between us both being on the mortgage versus the title. We're hunting right now and don't have a property lined up yet, though we are thinking multifamily. You're right, the wedding stress is already pretty high (lots of moving parts, 250 guests) so maybe we should wait until after the wedding. 

Until then, lots more to learn anyway. Perhaps the market will even correct itself here in the bay area...

Hey BP community, newbie here. My fiance and I are both excited about investing in real estate and are wondering if you can help us with this-- should we wait until we get married to buy an investment property together or can we buy before we get married without much headache/hassle later on? 

Our wedding is in 4 months. Our credit scores are about the same. Our incomes are about the same. We won't be living in the property. I can't imagine a scenario that would cause us to not get married, so that's not a concern. We're both very on board with investing, so that's not an issue either. 

Any pros/cons to waiting to be married versus buying now? I'm sure waiting until we're married would be easier, but are there any pros to investing now? Any interesting hacks?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Hi @Sherwin Gonzales, that does sounds like we're in the same boat! Let's stay in touch here and as we learn more maybe we can swap good info about investing in the east bay. Best of luck to you too!

Thanks for the kind welcomes, everyone! Looking forward to pouring over the wealth of information on BP. The amount of resources here are truly incredible.

Hey all, another person from the bay (SF) and potentially looking into investing in Fresno. My fiance is from Fresno and his uncle is a property manager there so it's a good fit. We'll be in Fresno again the first weekend in February, so as that date approaches I'll post in the Fresno meetup forum to see if we can make something happen.

A few months back we found some 8 unit apartments on Loopnet and drove to check them out. @Garrett Mayo's suggestion and others to check them out in person is SPOT ON! After checking out the first two apartment buildings that were going for ~$300k we realized we would not want to own those buildings nor profit off their tenants. 

Re: "north of Shields", one time a local from Fresno told my fiance he looked like he'd never been south of Shaw. Hah! @Andrew Wong that's a nice area for sure, between N. Marks and N. Palm, above Shaw. No idea about the cash flow or investing potential though.