Starting Out In Real Estate

[Teddy Smith]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie who is in the process of trying to buy my first property. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I've been pre-approved for an FHA 203k loan. I've been looking in Oakland, mostly for duplexes, as ideally I'd like to live in one unit and rent out the other as I'm 34 and still living with my dad and am pretty desperate to get out on my own.

I've been seriously looking for 2 months now, have written several offers, even had 2 offers accepted but it turns out that I'm absolutely terrible at predicting how much renovations will cost. Like I'm unable to do so within a $100k margin of error.

Honestly I never thought it would be so emotional and emotionally exhausting.

In any event, I feel as committed as ever to getting started in real estate investing, and I wanted to ask for some advice. First, is now a good time to start? Or would it be smarter to wait until government stimulus plans phase out, most notably mortgage forbearance?

Or should I be ready to make a deal before then, provided the numbers make sense?

Also, along those lines, is there anyone on this forum who has and is still investing in the Bay Area who can help me with the numbers?

Generally, I'm looking for a duplex that I can be reasonably confident that I can rent out for at least what it costs me every month (principal, interest, property taxes, home insurance, mortgage insurance), and hopefully a bit more.

And generally, anything else I should be thinking of? or looking for?

I'm terrified of ****ing up my first deal so any help would be appreciated.