All Forum Posts by: Sahir Noorani

Hi everyone,

I'm currently living up in Seattle with family but my job is based in Menlo Park and eventually I'll have to move back down there.  I'm trying to decide whether it would be a better idea to rent a place or buy one. I've made a list of pros and cons but would like to know what I'm missing/what else I should consider:

Pros of buying:

• Building equity in the property (mortgage payment would be about the same as rent)
• It's currently cheap to borrow (low interest rates)
• Bay Area prices have been resilient for the past 20 years or so although we can't assume this will continue
• I could generate some rental income by renting out one of the rooms to a tenant

Cons of buying:

• I don't want to live in the bay area long term
• Bay Area market could crash pretty badly
• The market still seems pretty expensive
• I hear the laws in California are really bad for landlords and that there isn't much recourse in the event that a tenant needs to be evicted.

This would be my first property and although I don't plan on staying in the Bay Area for more than 2 years, I would ideally like to keep it as a property to generate some rental income.  Would appreciate some advice!

Thanks.

Hey Tony,

Thanks for the response!  I definitely wanna do everything the proper legal way (: 

In your opinion, as someone who knows the market down there, would I be better off renting and investing in out of state property or in property in Sacramento or Bakersfield?  My main goal is cash flow and if I can get a cash flow property, and make even an extra $500 or $1000/month after expenses, that's still money I can use to offset my living cost.

I'm new to real estate and recently got a new job in the Bay Area that pays really well.  I've always wanted to get into real estate and figured this new job will give me the right income to get into it and really help me start building wealth and earn cash flow on the side. 

I wanted to get a better understanding of what the market looks like down in the bay area and California in general.  I'm open to house hacking or finding an investment property that's a few hours out that I could reasonably manage by putting in time on the weekends or getting a property manager.  From what I've looked at on Redfin, there aren't too many opportunities to house hack since the property prices are insane so I'm leaning towards finding an investment property maybe outside of the Bay and more near Fresno or up north in Sacramento. 

Would appreciate some ideas/input from someone who knows the area and has experience!