Buying an investment SFH in SF or Berkeley or South Bay

[Abhishek Joshi]

Hello all, I am a newbie to this site, and have been a landlord renting out our condo for the past decade. We were thinking of expanding our real estate portfolio, and were wondering if this is a good time to buy a SF rental property in the Bay Area. We want to play long <buy and keep forever and rent long term>, and were looking at homes across the bay area. 

We might be able to do a good chunk of down payment, and were wondering what is the best area to invest in here in the immediate bay area. Wanted guidance from this forum around:

1. Whether now is a good time <knowing fully well there is never the perfect time, so in essence, not trying to time the market>. Having said that, with high rates and the macro economy in a state of flux, wanted some guidance.

2. In terms of actual areas in the bay, do folks recommend one of the following:
South Bay <SC, Sunnyvale>; East Bay <Berkeley>; TriValley <Dublin> or SF

Or would you recommend sitting on the sidelines, wait and watch, and do a HYSA/CD to see how/where the market heads ?

Thank you so much for your inputs!

[Carlos Ptriawan]

Quote from @V.G Jason:

Quote from @Abhishek Joshi:

Hello all, I am a newbie to this site, and have been a landlord renting out our condo for the past decade. We were thinking of expanding our real estate portfolio, and were wondering if this is a good time to buy a SF rental property in the Bay Area. We want to play long , and were looking at homes across the bay area. 

We might be able to do a good chunk of down payment, and were wondering what is the best area to invest in here in the immediate bay area. Wanted guidance from this forum around:

1. Whether now is a good time . Having said that, with high rates and the macro economy in a state of flux, wanted some guidance.

2. In terms of actual areas in the bay, do folks recommend one of the following:
South Bay ; East Bay ; TriValley or SF

Or would you recommend sitting on the sidelines, wait and watch, and do a HYSA/CD to see how/where the market heads ?

Thank you so much for your inputs!

 To answer your question-- if you're investing in primo areas. Then, the sooner the better. Clearly, you already understand it's a long game since you prefaced with that. So whatever the economy does in the next 1-36 months is immaterial to you, shoot even 60 months. 

With that said, I would keep it in HYSA until you find the deal you're looking for. Meaning high(er) quality location to price point ratio. It's those deals that fly off the shelf in under 24 hours, but you bought it cause you were first. I would just refresh my Redfin 4-5x day and when you find that deal you email the listing agent and snatch it away. They come, but they go faster. 

 If you have cash 2 million I would only invest in South Bay and area around Hawaii.

Forget Ohio/Milwaukee and other cash-flow non-sense LOL. Stick with highest quality housing.