In 2020, with $170k saved for a downpayment, I was poised to finally fulfill my family’s dream of homeownership. As renters, my immigrant family had always seen home ownership as a cornerstone of building generational wealth, a way to stop “paying someone else’s mortgage.” Little did I know, the fears of a pandemic-caused recession quickly resided to unveil a real estate market frenzy. In the greater San Francisco Bay Area, homes began selling for $100K — $200K over the asking price, often to all-cash buyers. With a downpayment covering merely 17% of the average $1M home price in the Bay Area, my goal now seemed increasingly out of reach.
Fast forward to 2023, and the situation hasn’t eased. The real estate landscape is still dominated by unaffordable sky-high prices, fueled by soaring interest rates and a low supply of properties. Amidst this, I pivoted to an alternate buying strategy: fixer-uppers.