When deciding between investing out of state vs home hacking in Oakland, keep the following in mind.Oakland House Hacking:Proximity: Living in Oakland while house hacking enables you to maintain a close proximity to San Francisco, which might prove advantageous for property management and maintaining connections with the local market.Possibility of Appreciation: Property values in the Bay Area have increased historically, which is good for accumulating equity over time.Local market dynamics, tenant preferences, and potential obstacles might be simpler to comprehend when one is in a familiar location.Demand for Rentals: Oakland has a robust rental market, and you can discover good demand for rental units if you pick the appropriate property and location.Creating Local Connections: If you live in the Bay Area, house hacking can assist you in making local contacts with property managers, real estate agents, and other investors.Investing Out of State:Investing outside of your state may be more affordable and enable you to use the same funds to buy more than one property.A few out-of-state markets can have more favorable cash flow prospects in contrast to the pricey Bay Area market.Geographic diversity, which can help reduce risks related to market-specific variations, is made possible by investing in a variety of markets.Hiring a local property management business, which offers a more hands-off approach to property management, is often necessary for out-of-state investments.Remember, both options have their advantages and challenges.

If you rehab the basement would it increase the value?

They increased my annual by $500.  

We are planning to upgrade all the units and increase rent by using quality material. 

With the first month of 2024 in the books, we're definitely seeing a lot more buyer activity in the market as well as increased supply numbers for both single family detached homes as well as condos/townhomes.

Disposals = Maintenance = increased costs.

For example convert to STR or MTR for your unit to increase cash flow?

Ideally, when you are looking for long term holds you want to make sure you are buying in a market with good potential to see approximately 3%+ appreciation progressively over the next 3-5 years with an increasing rent market.

From what I've gathered, practically any investment back then did very well given that home prices and rents have increased substantially.Even though today it seems much harder to find a good deal (like you said, it's probably a horrible time to be investing), would you say there's less competition now?

Prices soften a little....but no where close enough to offset increased borrowing costs.There are basically two logical flaws that lead people to the conclusion that rising rates equates to equally low prices.1) They assume that other investors have the same borrowing costs that they do.