New member in northern CA
Hi everyone! I'm Michael, and am relatively new to this forum, as I've been looking at posts and listening to the podcasts for a few weeks now. I am a 36 year old professional in the legal industry and am looking to get in to real estate investing.
Investing in my local market is not feasible due to housing costs. This is both in terms of the astronomical purchase prices, and also that buying is so much more expensive than renting, that it would be nearly impossible to make money off of a rental here.
Accordingly, I would be interested in learning more about long-distance investing, and the challenges and pitfalls thereof. For a while, I did own (and rent out) a property in southern California, but once I moved to the Bay Area for work, I decided to sell it, as self-managing from a distance seemed quite arduous, and my slim financial margins would not allow me to afford to pay a management company. I hope to be able to get back in to the industry on more stable ground, in an up-and-coming area, where I can hire a trusted management company to handle the day-to-day.
The only thing I know is that I can't afford California, but I am not sure where TO look. I would love to hear from some members as to their thoughts on where I should look, and also how members have been able to handle being a long-distance investor/landlord.