Any opinions on Redlands, CA? Or Riverside?

[Elijah Householder]

Hey everybody,

I am looking to purchase my first investment property soon. Fairly new graduate and packing away the savings right now to get my first purchase in (No prior experience in REI. However, I have been reading books for a while and work at an online mortgage lender. So have some but very minimal knowledge in the REI world). I am starting to do my due diligence and trying to lock down a location. Hoping to get a 2-3 unit property but open to SFH as well.

I have always been interested in Riverside. I went to school there and feel it is in a great central location for Southern California. However, as most of you know who live/invest there, it is not the most glamorous place (As of right now. Believe that could change). However, I feel like Redlands is a beautiful place but not as great of an overall location in Socal.  

Any opinions on this? Or any tips for what I should start doing/looking into? Totally open to any suggestions and would LOVE any help/advice you can give. Like I said, I have pretty much zero knowledge in the REI world so I would love to hear from the pros!

Best,

Elijah

[Aaron K.]

@Elijah Householder actually I believe you can break into the nicer areas in Riverside for under $400k, you'll be looking at 1500 sqft SFRs but that is just fine.  In particular, Orangecrest, Woodcrest, and Sycamore Highlands.  Those properties don't come up all the time so you need to be patient, because there are only a few models in this price range.  I've actually done this just last year, so it is possible.  You might also include Mentone in your Redlands search as it uses most of the same services and can at times be a bit cheaper for the nicer homes.