[quote=AN][quote=bearishgurl]The MM condo (suggested earlier) not only is narrow enough to emulate a train car inside (notice the sorry a$$ kitchen so narrow that if the oven is open, one can’t stand in front of the sink or open the frig??), it has ~$235 in monthly HOA dues (subject to hikes and also special assessments). Having lived in Pt Loma for an unspecified amount of time, Eve may be completely unfamiliar with the type of tenant who would be attracted to that small condo in (congested) MM or at the speed which it will turn over annually.[/quote]
Sorry but you have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re masquerading opinion as fact.[/quote]
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To OP, it really depends on your own comfort level and what sort of tenant pools you want to deal with and to what extent you want to deal with the PITA factor.
I have a friend and she has approximately 8-10 SFH rentals she bought over the course of 2 years in escondido that cash flows really well, and she’s made a killing.. But she even admits, she would never want to deal with the tenants there herself, let alone live there, and she wished she had paid more attention to MM and RB when things were priced “cheap”….I have another friend that does something similar and doesn’t mind it at all and does well too.
in my case, I’m lazy and consider 25+minutes back and forth between north county and say college area about the limit of my PITA I can tolerate, especially when I also need to be around my customers in north county all the time and also have a family, and volunteer at my kids school, and volunteer for some social causes (like making sure Alex Lien gets justice), and also still have enough seat time in my Miata at autox so I can be “less suck” than I currently am, oh and juggle in bi-weekly medical treatments too.
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Here’s a rough comparison…
In MM, 1/1 condos renting out for about $1250-1300/month on 1 year lease terms. And $1400+/month on something shorter than 1 year. Tenant pool is typically tech workers, some on H1B which have excellent credit, always pay on time, and never give you any problems unless something really does break.. And occupancy about 90+% of the time, since most of these new tech workers aren’t going to be buying for the next 2-4 years…Also, as an added bonus appreciation in MM has been surprisingly ridiculous. Same condo that went for $140kish in 2011 closed recently @$190kish for example, which is roughly the price of a 2/2 in MM 2 years ago…
Meanwhile approximately similarly priced 2/2 in “college area” costed about the same, and rents for maybe $100/month more. But clearly with slightly more PITA factor than MM, due to the more fluid nature of tenant pool there and noticeably less stellar quality tenant pool (you’re not going to find you $80k+ qualcomm entry-level tech worker that won’t be moving for 2-5 years down there most of the time). And there is considerably more supply of rental property there…. Cash flow yes, but still waiting for any likewise appreciation that has already happened in MM…Thankfully, good property manager there makes it worthwhile (need a recommendation, PM me)..
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There’s really no right or wrong way of doing it…As long as you’re making money and beating what you could do elsewhere with the same money…Better imho then not doing anything at all. At an point in time…if you’re not making money, you’re spending it, or letting someone else spend it for you..
