I am new to investing.  I want to buy multifamily properties. I currently live in San Jose, CA. I am originally from Brooklyn, NY. I moved from NY to Orlando, FL in 2003. As a result of the 2007 market crash, my husband I brought a 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath 3000 sq. ft. home in the Vista Lakes area of Orlando, FL in 2011. When I moved to California in 2016 it became an investment property.  I sold it in July of this year due to Covid.  I am currently not working and my husband is working reduced hours due to Covid.  I want to invest in the NY market.I know Brooklyn which I would love to invest in is too expensive and as well as my backyard in San Jose, CA.  I want to invest in a market that I can buy houses with cash due to my situation.  I was looking in the Rochester,NY area.  Is that a good Market?  I am also looking to move out of CA soon.  We are an African American couple in our fifties.  When we lived in Florida when didn't fit in and we do not fit in here in San Jose.  I want to house hack but I do not know what market where there are people like me are.  I hope I did not offend any one but this is my reality.  I would appreciate it  if  anyone can assist me in my venture. I would like information on any market that is up and coming.

I can't speak to NY specifically as I don't live there or invest there, but just generally speaking... it sounds like you're all over the map. Literally and figuratively. If you want to invest in a property in NY for cash, that is one path. If you want to house hack, that's another path (unless you want to specifically move to NY and live somewhere where you can house hack, and you're merging those two wishes together). It sounds like you really want to live somewhere that you fit in, and that would mean a lot to you. If that's the case, I would look for that place completely outside of investing, for the time being. I feel like if you make house hacking your focus, it could distract you from finding somewhere you really love to live and you could end up back in the same scenario--not totally jiving with where you're living. Once you find that place, one you'd really love to live in, then you could analyze it and see if it makes sense to house hack there. If it doesn't, no problem, you can still live there and invest elsewhere. There are a lot of ways to potentially go with this, but just most basically I would consider separating, for now, your investing and your living... pursue each one separately like it is it's own thing, and then see if there is room later for them to be combined. You want to get some traction on something, and if you focus on too much at one time, that will be hard to get.