All Forum Posts by: Wilhelm Nothnagel

Very interesting thread since I am in the same exact situation. I moved to San Francisco for work and currently rent. Recently sold primary home back in our hometown so now want to buy. In the last year we got priced out. (We are a family of 4).

So now I am looking at buying a smaller property to rent to offset my rent! Sounds bizarre doesn't it? That would take up all of my capital for one small property to get it to cash flow for the offset. 

Or, I could look to the East Bay and buy a family sized property that we could live in if we really needed to. I would have cash left over to invest in another fixer property to fix and hold thus starting my REI journey. Does this sound like utter madness to you all? I am not interested in out of state investments yet because I want to get my feet wet and hands dirty.

Hi Geneva,

I am actively looking for a 1-4 unit in oakland or berkeley and I'd be really interested in hearing how this value-add works out so please keep us updated. I'm actually an architect but I work in San Francisco so the only help I can offer is for spatial planning, layout etc if you need friendly advice. 

Good luck!

Thanks for the welcome! 

In this city I am definitely looking for a more affordable housing situation. 50% of my monthly income goes to rent! We recently sold a property we owned overseas and I feel like it would be smarter to use the proceeds to purchase a multi-family unit to live in and rent, than to purchase a condo or apartment so late in the appreciation cycle. My goal would be to bring my housing costs down to 30% or less. The holy grail would be to cash flow positive. 

The other idea is to purchase out of state and rent in the city, but I foresee a lot of challenges in doing that.

Your advice really means a lot!

Hi everyone I have been reading a lot in this forum and it seems like a great bunch of people with a lot of knowledge. I am an architect and I am looking at buying a duplex or triplex to move into in the near future. I am just not sure about this SF market! I have a substantial amount to put down but I am not sure what steps to take yet. Well it's time to start learning!