hi bp community, i am a newbie in los Angeles looking to do my first deal this year. Ive been looking into Bakersfield ca. Anybody out there invest in Bakersfield that can give me any tips ; what do SFR rent for out there? Whats a good area to invest and upcoming? Any good proerty management out there? Good plumbers, contractors,

handy man,Realtor.? Ect...... Very much appreciate your help thank you

It's a great place to invest in!  Purchase prices are considerably lower than Los Angeles and other cities in SoCal but the rents are still high enough to produce high cap rates compared to the rest of the state.  High cap rates and a healthy rental market = cash flow.

Multi-unit properties tend to have higher cap rates, but you have to put a little more into managing them.  Mulit-units here tend to cash flow best in B or C class neighborhoods like Oildale (North Bakersfield), Northeast Bakersfield, Downtown, and places immediately West of the 99 freeway.  Prices for these range from $100k to $400k.  Anything above that price range it seems to be hit or miss as far as cash flowing really well.  When you go farther SW or NW it tends to get too expensive for good cash flow on multi-unit properties.

SFRs are managed easier but should be purchased in towns with a high rental density to avoid long vacancies (with only 1 home, when the tenant's leave it could be hell on the landlord if it becomes hard to fill that 1 vacancy).  With SFRs, I'd stick to slightly higher quality neighborhoods like SW, NW, and NE.  I'd also stay in the $150k to $350k range.  Anything above that range will be outside the financial grasp of most tenants so it will be hard to fill vacancies.

wow that was some good info. Thank you. I was interested in some SFR

Bakersfield ca 93306

PRICE AROUND $119,000 

What do you think is that a good area to start my portfolio? Thx val

@Val C.

In Bakersfield, especially 93306 there have been some good properties for sale.  You even have the option to try and find some value add properties.  I have investors that have been buying between $130K-$140K and earning solid rents against that.  

I wouldn't mind putting a little work into them. Turn key would be great too. 

Originally posted by @Val C. :

hi bp community, i am a newbie in los Angeles looking to do my first deal this year. Ive been looking into Bakersfield ca. Anybody out there invest in Bakersfield that can give me any tips ; what do SFR rent for out there? Whats a good area to invest and upcoming? Any good proerty management out there? Good plumbers, contractors,

handy man,Realtor.? Ect...... Very much appreciate your help thank you

 Hello and welcome! Best of luck to you!

@Max Gradowitz good info , did you buy during the crash at all in Bakersfield? There were some really amazing deals , many homes under $50,000.
I have family that bought property there during the crash. To live in but also for rentals.
Do you see much opportunity for flips in Bakersfield in the current market or mostly for buy and hold rentals ?

Here is one that sold for $37,000 in 2009. Now asking $150,490.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Bakersfield/1112-Beryl-D...

@Joseph M. the Bakersfield flip market seems to be pretty competitive right now, and I am seeing a lot of investors from LA area and Bay Area coming in and trying to earn returns which are just not possible in their hometown areas. 

That is not to say that flips aren't still possible here in Bakersfield.  I have been coming across about 2 off market properties a week lately, and you can see that people are starting to buy at higher levels, which is cutting the returns down, so in response to that I have been seeing investors start taking lower returns but focusing more on volume.  

I.E. instead of focusing on making 20-30%/flip and having one or two flips going, investors are now starting to focus on earning 10-15% return/flip and having 5-6 flips going at a time. 

The biggest problem I am seeing (besides having to almost literally do double the flips to make the same money) is the competition to attain the flip, which is almost double the cost as it used to be.  

All of that being said: There are still good flips with good margins left, there are still good flips with okay margins left, and I think there is a niche in the market which many people are trying to exploit but I haven't seen done very well to this point.  

It's all about analysis and finding the profitable areas in the market. 

Hope this helps!  Feel free to PM me if you want to chat further!

@Joseph M.  Yes in 2011, so I have seen multi-unit and SFRs go up quite a lot in the last few years.  It shot up like crazy until 2014 and has been steadily increasing around 3% every year since.  It's still a good time to buy here, especially if you are into buying and holding onto appreciating rental properties.  Flips are getting difficult to do now because the real estate growth here has attracted investors from Los Angeles and other expensive areas of California and it has over-saturated the flip market here. I've seen a lot more success with buy and holds and doing BRRRRs with multi-units here.

Thanks @Sanjeev Advani and @Max Gradowitz   for your responses !

Originally posted by @Sanjeev Advani:

That is not to say that flips aren't still possible here in Bakersfield.  I have been coming across about 2 off market properties a week lately, and you can see that people are starting to buy at higher levels, which is cutting the returns down, so in response to that I have been seeing investors start taking lower returns but focusing more on volume.  . 

Hope this helps!  Feel free to PM me if you want to chat further!

 Sanjeev, I'd love to have a shot at those 2 off market deals you find each week.