Orange County, CA first purchase

[Rob Painter]

Hi all, new to REI and Orange County. I've been renting for 6 months now and have started to get curious about buying property as my medical training will lock me in to SoCal until ~2026 anyways. Not being from the area, I've loved living near the beach and really would like to continue doing so. However, as I'm early in my career, I don't have a ton of liquidity to work with right now. My big question is if it's realistic to find something reasonably close to the water between Newport and Long Beach from <$500k or if I should be shifting my mindset. I've been on CRMLS and it looks like there are a few options but the vast majority seem out of my price range so I wanted to reach out to the community for somebody with more experience in the area.

[Jon Schwartz]

@Rob Painter, I’m seeing several 2/2 condos that are near the beach and under $500K.

I’d recommend house hacking such a property — live in one bedroom and rent the other.

You’ll get into a property you can afford to buy, keep your cost of living low, build up equity, and likely have a cashflowing asset when it’s time to move out.

Happy to help with the property search and underwriting!

Best,

Jon