Cupertino, CA · Member since 2014 · 4 posts · 1 vote
Hello all,
Wow, what a community you all have built here! I became introduced by listening to the podcast, and then finally peeked in at the forums. I was totally blown away by the comraderie and friendliness of this board.
Anyway, I'm not currently invested in any properties but I'm looking for a more productive way to grow my money. All of the "Intro to Investing!" guides discuss a creating a mission statement and business plan, so I'll be working on that soon and will post it up to the New Investors board when it's ready.
The question I want to answer is: is it possible for me to, in two years, move away from the SF Bay Area and back to Pennsylvania (where I'm originally from) and stop working 9-5 to become a full-time rental landlord? This will be determined by the rate of return I can expect from various properties. I need to analyze a few sample properties and see what the spreadsheet reveals! Look forward to learning from all of you in the future.
Welcome, and yes, definitely a lot of great people on here! I invest in the East Bay and have been able to get over 10% returns on the cash we invest. But the deals are far and few between, and need rehab to get there.. So takes more work than the average buy and hold.
If you do it right, you can probably pretty safely get a 5% return on your capital right now, maybe up to 10%, and maybe higher if you get a great deal. There is also principal paydown (which is known), and potential appreciation. But how much you can earn will depend a lot on how much capital you have to invest, and how good a deal you can find..
Good luck in your search! I Definitely recommend meeting with some other locals and see what everyone else is doing/getting.. Check out @Johnson H. 's in San Jose. I believe his meetup group link is in his signature..
Good to hear from you! And I'm bummed I'll be missing the summit this weekend -- I'm just too late to the party. :-)
Not being a speculator, I doubt I will be investing in the Bay Area. My long term (beginning in 2 years) plan will be to head back to the east coast and invest there, where cash returns could pay living expenses. It seems as though people invest as follows:
High-priced markets (SF, LA, Chicago, NYC): return through appreciation
Low-priced markets (everywhere else): return through cash flow.
Good to hear from you! And I'm bummed I'll be missing the summit this weekend -- I'm just too late to the party. :-)
Not being a speculator, I doubt I will be investing in the Bay Area. My long term (beginning in 2 years) plan will be to head back to the east coast and invest there, where cash returns could pay living expenses. It seems as though people invest as follows:
High-priced markets (SF, LA, Chicago, NYC): return through appreciation
Low-priced markets (everywhere else): return through cash flow.
To some extent. I invest in the lower-income areas of the East Bay, and still get great cash flow (>10%), built-in equity (15-25%), and what I believe to be good long-term prospects for appreciation, with limited land, and being close commutes to employment centers. (the last part I believe you call speculation). But these are the rarity. Most people go out of town (Sac, inland), or out of state when they want more cash flow.
I think it's an even better prospect if you're moving out there. I think it's great if you can buy something locally in the area you live..
Rental Property Investor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
Welcome to BiggerPockets Andrew!
Some will probably tell you you can transition to full time investing and make a living out of it, but I might suggest getting a W-2 job that you'd enjoy and is flexible. This gives you more of a safety net and more purchasing power.
You can probably cover housing costs, but have you figured out how much you need to live on and what capital it will take to get there? It will probably take some time to grow to that volume, and it takes managing a lot of units to make the workload equal a full time job.