Hello,

We live in Paso Robles on the central coast of California. Real Estate is expensive here, I would love to find a cash flowing small multi unit property. but i would likely be looking at 500k for the purchase price. Rents are decent but I feel like I won’t find anything that will cash flow ;( taxes are also high here! I know this market so I would feel comfortable buying here but it’s so expensive, should I look somewhere else. Just worried about not knowing the market....

Hi Stacia - 

You will be hard pressed to find a cash flowing property without a significant amount down. The cap rate people are willing to accept is just too low. Being that housing is tight, a good thing to find a way to rent a room or convert space to a second unit. Best of luck, I personally am educating myself on out of state opportunities, but also looking outside of SLO near Fresno.

@Scot Burns thank you. S

"Just worried about not knowing the market...."  - You need to know the market. Point blank.

If you can't look at property from a numbers prospective you're wasting time. Location is everything. The comps show you what the market is doing. I only look at recently sold properties <12 months. Unfortunately a lot of places in Cali are hard pressed to cash-flow given the market cycle. It doesn't mean you can't find one! Sometimes its your neighbor, sometimes its out of state. Good luck!