Hello! I'm seeking advice from those with experience investing in areas that are considerably expensive. I would like to begin investing in rental properties, ideally I would like to stay local, but in my area the avg price of a home is nearly 1M (Zip code 95476). Is there someone on this forum who started their property investment journey in this kind of a market?
If so, maybe you can share advice on some key things you have learned?
@Jake Lazar If you want to find the deals directly, you'll need to go out and prospect the sellers and see who would entertain an offer. I do this through cold calling, texting, emailing and whatever it takes to find a deal. If you do this on a consistent basis you will find deals as it is just a numbers game in the end. This can open the door to potential seller financed deals which is a great way to scale up faster.
If you are buying in the North Bay and its not a SFH or Condo, make sure you are up to speed on all the rental laws, statewide rent control and local rent regulations before buying into something that's multi family. As a commercial agent who sells primarily multi family buildings, I see too many people want to buy their first investment property but are unaware of the stringent local rent control laws.
@Jake Lazar start by establishing clear goals and criteria. If your goal is cash flow then nothing in that price range will cash flow. You might be better off looking at more affordable markets out of state.