Buying a home in the Bay Area sounds wild, right? In this episode, I walk you through how we made the decision to buy instead of rent—complete with real numbers, assumptions, and some truly hilarious house-hunting stories (including the one where we almost camped in the backyard of a $500K teardown 🤯).

We’ll break down:

• How we used a rent vs. buy break-even calculation to set our price limit

• Why we chose a single family home over a condo or townhome

• What made us pick the East Bay over other areas

• How we negotiated a house under asking despite the hot market

• And the two biggest lessons I learned: always look for under-market deals, and value-add properties can grow way faster than you think 💡

If you're considering buying in a high-cost area—or just want to understand the mindset behind making a smart real estate purchase—this one's for you. 💰🏡

🎧 Episode Breakdown
00:00 – 🎙️ Intro01:50 – 🧮 How we calculated the buying budget03:21 – 🧭 What about other criteria?04:30 – 🏘️ House type debate: condo vs. townhome vs. SFH05:47 – 🕵️‍♀️ House hunt stories (backyard camping, bad listing photos!)07:46 – 💡 Key learnings09:23 – 🧾 Summary12:24 – 👋 Outro