Articles like this makes me feel we are at the market top.
Does have that feeling, but I think top for bay area. Other parts of the country still haven’t recovered. We probably plateau soon though.
Blowing off can last a lot longer you have patience to wait. When it finally arrived, you probably don’t have the money or inclination to buy
Was at an open house this weekend where the realtor said that a nearby home had only gotten one bid. He seemed to think things were changing (and his home was priced accordingly).
Greed. I keep everything in the market because i cant time the drop. I wish i could 
If it can drop independently of stock market, and right before i buy, i would be so happy. Then i can buy 2, confidently. Otherwise, when the market drops and i have 2 homes eith negative equity, it would suck big time
Where was this open house. Would be good to know where it has started to top.
Why worry about negative equity so much? If you live in one, who cares if the equity is negative in the short-term? If you’re rental is cash flow break even, then who cares? You can ride it out.
Rental cashflow in bay area is very negative, isnt it?
Depends on down payment. I’m not a fan of buying a rental with negative cash flow. At that point you’re hoping appreciation will bail you out. That’s a big assumption/risk. It also ruins your DTI ratio to buy more rentals later.
Our fearless leader @manch is ok with negative cash flow assuming deal was good enough 
Not always, especially if you target multiunits, or rent by room somewhere.
With the current interest rate, I can’t find anything that cashflows in multifam in the bay area without a high (40%+ downpayment) 
Multifams with renters sound risky around here with rent control. By the room soubds fine though, if it is outside of rentcontrol regulations.
Room rentals will push you into rent control if you are doing it in SF. not sure about other cities.
No restrictions if it’s 4 units or less I think unless you’re in SF.
@BA_lurker - for around here take also into account principal paydown (which I agree is normally not included for assessing cash flow), but yes I agree, generally here at these current prices most things are negative.
True. I take into consideration principle paydown when computing cashflow as I want properties to be able to stand on their own. So I do my cashflow computation on P+I as part of the payment vs I only.
edit. changed “I don’t take” to “I take”
Normally you shouldn’t, but if people in the bay area are gunning for appreciation play they might.
I think everyone needs a plan for recessions. We average one ever 5-7 years. That’s typically a 5-10% drop in home value and a 10% drop in rents. That’s brutal if a property is negative cash flow before the recession.
Gotta have cash on the side to BTFD.