Hi All, I'd like to start by saying thank you to anyone taking the time to read this post and reply! This is my first post on BiggerPockets. I've been reading financial books on real estate and stock investing. I just finished reading Set For Life, and I'm extremely inspired to take control of my financial future. I'm currently going to be interning at Amazon and NVIDIA during the second half of 2021 in Software Engineering. Looking further ahead, since I'll be making around 150k before taxes, I want to make sure that 15-20k doesn't get eaten so I can reduce rent expenses. However, the Bay Area, where I currently live, has crazy high house prices. Therefore, I'm looking into Seattle, Austin, and Raleigh-Durham to move into after college and house-hack. These markets also seem to be pretty tough to pull off a house hack in, but the midwest properties (which seem to be more house-hack friendly) don't have tech hubs that are nearly as booming. Which city should I be looking into as a new grad in Software Engineering to start my real estate journey?

I have been in the tech field for 20 years and had rental property almost as long. I travel and visit customers all over the country. They are all big tech companies with software engineers. I have made many trips to every market mentioned in this thread accept Hawaii - only one trip there so far. The cost of houses is really not the most important factor here. You can house hack anywhere. More expensive houses often get higher rent and appreciate more over time. The question is where can you maximize income and job hop to higher pay levels quickly? There is no doubt that the most jobs and highest earning potential are in Silicon Valley. The question then becomes more about quality of life, cost of housing and rent return. No doubt housing is very expensive in Silicon Valley, as are taxes and cost of living. You have to figure out how much that offsets your higher earnings. Of course Silicon Valley has proven a strong market over time for appreciation, so even though you spend more, it could increase in value more. Of course there are other factors and my personal favorite of all mentioned is Austin. Look at where major tech companies are moving and it is Austin. The company that started Silicon Valley, HPE, is leaving Silicon Valley for Austin. Elon Musk just announced he is moving to Austin. Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Samsung and Dell are all companies with branch locations in Austin. Most of them moved there to expand their talent pool in a less expensive market. Austin has a great vibe and night scene which is attractive to younger people. Texas has no state taxes. As far as political climate, Austin itself is more liberal but Texas as a state is more conservative making for a good mix. Of course keep in mind that housing costs in Austin has also skyrocketed over time, but one difference in Austin is more buildable land. CA has geographic and government blockages that make housing development difficult. Keep in perspective here that many of these people suggesting where to move are suggesting their own city. That is great that people love their city, but when it comes to technology many of these cities just don't have the same opportunities. Some cities mentioned have low house prices, but mainly because of population decline and bad weather. Seattle has great employment opportunities, but is also very expensive and the weather isn't ideal. Amazon is expanding elsewhere for a reason. My suggestion is put in applications in more than one city and see what happens.

I'm an auto engineer yes. Came out here for the job. Engineering salary here is very high relative to house prices. When I started out, I would have made the same income here vs where I'm from (MA), but house prices in and around Boston are 2-4x many Metro Detroit towns. High wages relative to housing prices and rent rates makes SE Michigan a good place to look for REI in my opinion. There's more to consider of course than just that, and it depends on your goals. Let me know if you want to talk further!

Coding on a sunny beach in Mexico was my dream back in 2000. There was great invention of WiFi back then allowing me to have my laptop not chained to a router with a long 50’ cable. I envision someday portability of the work location... Tonight I hosted a Zoom call from my car at my daughters soccer practice with my iPhone setup as a WiFi hot spot. VPN access was working seamless to tunnel through the corporate firewall. The paradigm shift is happening and corporate will be difficult to pull talented individuals back into the 6x6 cubes... Make your personal legend in a location that inspires your creativity and drives you to work passionately at maximum productivity. Where is your sunny beach?

@Kamil Kisielewicz As a software engineer and real estate investor who just moved from NYC to Austin. I am going to recommend neither of the places to start. As an engineer you probably love numbers and data. So instead of just guessing a city is good for you, find data points that would support that X city is the best city for you to invest in based on numbers. How do you go about doing that? Looking up the crime rates, the school scores, the price to rent ratios. Then selecting the city with the best data to back it up.

@Kamil Kisielewicz I find all of mine on the MLS, there are plenty of homes built in the 80's and 90's that need work!

Best Place to House Hack for Software Engineer?

Neil Narayan

Real Estate Broker · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 715 posts · 527 votes

5y

I vote Austin :)

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Thomas Milas

Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 3 votes

5y

I'm looking at doing this myself. I checked some of the tech cities minus Raleigh and House hacking in the traditional sense with multi families looks tough but not impossible. If you do the traditional SFH and rent out rooms seems more doable but a little less privacy. I'm looking at Austin because my better half likes the oops in TX. Raleigh may be less inflated at this juncture if your ok with NC.

Best Place to House Hack for Software Engineer?

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