[quote=spdrun]Meh, disagree on a lot of what you’ve said 🙂
(1) You can generally suss out the risk of special assessments and rises in HOA fees. Look at the general condition of the complex, the financial condition of the HOA, and check court records for any open litigation. This info is all available to prospective buyers and isn’t hard to find.
(2) HOA fees in a well-run condo pay for a lo.t of stuff that you’ll be paying for anyway in an SFR, like exterior maintenance. Also, the level of HOA fees is reflected in the sale price — condos are cheaper to buy than SFRs for a given level of rent.
(3) Who cares where employment verification comes from? I’ve just asked for 3-4 references from prospective tenants including one from work, called them up, and googled them as well as the prospective tenant. It’s very hard to get a few friends to lie consistently, and if the stories didn’t fit, I moved on.
There are also other ways to verify income, like bank statements. I’m self-employed, so I’m sure not going to discriminate against self-employed/small-business folks and students — too much empathy to even consider that.[/quote]
spdrun, for you, (located on the other side of the country) an investment condo in SD makes more sense. And IIRC, you bought one in 92115.
A condo is easier for you to manage yourself and have local handymen at the ready who can fix things that break while its occupied. You don’t have any outside maintenance and aren’t here to do a drive-by to see if your tenants have been keeping this up if you have given them a rent credit (and the tools) to do so.
Questions for you. Did you buy a 2 or 3 bdrm condo and has your experience so far been with tenants in 92115 that they were unrelated roommates or related to each other? And would you actually live in (retire?) in the unit yourself?
