bay area - california

I am a beginner investor and living in bay area california. I love this board and hope to learn from experience investors here.

I have been searching for income properties for couple of month and have very hard time to find any good potential ones with any kind of cash flow. :-[ The price is too high and the rent stays low. The GRM is at all time high. What would you do as investor? Stay cool and wait for the down turn or keep looking harder or totally avoid this market now and looking into other markets? If you look into other cities/ markets, where do you recommend ( TX, FL, AZ? )?

Thanks!

Dennis

Hello!

I too live in a “HOT” market. Long Island/NYC. It seems impossible to have a positive cash flow with rents being so low. I could possibly break even with a good deal.

My suggestion-
You can try to do some creative investing. Such as foreclosures, subject tos and sandwich leases. With mortgages being so high I’m sure you can find new owners,less than 4 years, that can’t afford the payment anymore and need to get out. Take over their mortgage subject to and pass it on to a buyer who may not be able to get financing traditionaly.

What I’m doing-

Here in New York, the further North you travel the less expensive the houses are. The rents are higher than mortgages and is full of cash flow. Try and look outside the box. I make monthly trips upstste and have property management in place to take care of any problems.

Although I would like to stay close by it seems almost impossible. I seem to always hit a brick wall. This is just what I’ve found helpful for me. Good luck!

Malinda

Thanks, Malinda!

I am also thinking to invest in good cash flow area. As a new investor, it would be much harder to be creative at very first stage without knowing too much about the game. After learning some from the “easy” markets, I may have more ideas.

I was just checking some of the northern NY housing price online. My chin was nearly dropped when i saw the house price there. :oMost SFH are way below $100K. Right, below $100K and in the $50K range. It is about 10% of similar houses price here. But the rent is much more than 10% of rents here. Hope there are other places like that in a neighbor state. I understand the appreciation rate would be much lower in those areas. Also don’t know how easy or hard to get tenants in those places.

Dennis

Whatever you do, don’t take a negative cash flow anticipating appreciation. who knows what the market will do. Start small. And build a multiple of small houses. Let me suggest " How to make millions in Real Estate in Three Years Starting with No cash" by Tyler C. Hicks. That book got my tail in high gear. He breaks it down for you how to go from a $150,000 house to a multi million dollar portfolio. Best book I ever bought. Just keep educating yourself and make offers, you never know if they’ll be accepted.

Malinda

Have you done any research in Solano county. The purchase to rental ratio is one of the best in the country.

Houston, Texas is a good market to invest in if you have cash.

As per scenario of real estate and property market changing it is more advisable to invest in residential properties as compared to commercial properties. Also it is more preferable to invest in tier two cities than big cities.