New girl on the Los Angeles real estate block

[Keren Weinstein]

Hello!

This is my first ever blog post, here I go:

I am in my thirties and my partner and I have funds in the bank and are ready to invest in real estate (right now he does most of our investing in the stock market which is super risky). I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and would like to purchase property here. Even though we do not plan on living here for the next few years, I think it would be great to own something that we can rent out and have the option of living in later (or sell).   We have a lot of time on our hands, and my partner is very handy with construction work, so we can take on some small projects to make the house look better. We are currently paying $2800/mo on rent, so we can renovate and live in the new place. I also have a very dependable property manager that can help manage while we are away. 

Initially, I wanted to buy a 1-2 bed condo but after reading the forums and listening to podcasts it sounds like a bad idea because of the HOA fees. Does anyone have any suggestions on buying a home in the valley? We can put 20% down on $300k and have reserves for renovation or unforeseen expenses. I reached out to an agent to show me some condos on Saturday, but any advice would be awesome, especially around auctions or forclosures! I am willing to work hard and understand that this investment will take time to return. We also have a pre-approval letter for 300K.

Thank you!

Keren