(07-01-2019, 10:44 PM)vbin Wrote:(07-01-2019, 10:28 PM)fenders53 Wrote: IMO rental property is an investment. I suppose if you intend to flip it at a higher price some year soon it could be an investment.This isn't abnormal for Bay area properties. 1M is start for a townhome in good communities and 1.1M+ for single fam homes with few extra miles of drive.
Some risk in that plan of course. Other than that you have to wait until you downsize later in life to realize any gain. I'm not an expert on Bay Area property but that price you quoted is terrifying to me.
I was aware it's not hard to spend $1M on a home there. Here you can buy a new 4000 square foot for under $500K. $250K will by a real nice home in a high quality and safe school district. $100K is a pretty nice but old starter home. Much less than that and you are living in the "hood". You can get along very well on $100K family annual income. Much less if you really need to.
I have a rental property. It's modest but renters paid almost the entire mortgage off so it was a good return on small investment.