Buying a small condo in UTC as an investment?

[Scarlett]

[quote=flu]

Regarding CV condo. If you really want to explore the condo route. My personal opinion. Is

Good one
1) Carmel Pointe

So so.
1) Heights.

Avoid:

1) Del Mar Villas
2) Pell Place.

Carmel Pointe is a newer apartment convert. The facilities are nicer, and seems to be of better quality construction. (It’s across the street from Crest).

Heights is ok. The biggest drawback is that it’s a 3 floor plan, and there are no elevators
(…)
Del Mar Villa (no offense) is a dump. It’s a really old apartment that was converted at the peak.
(…)
Pell place… Newer place: BUT like del Mar villa purchasers, folks way overpaid for it. Lots of short sells,etc. I expect HOA is underfunded, some folks on some blogs complain about the construction quality.
[/quote]
Thanks flu for the CV condos, I’ll keep those in mind, including Camino Villas. I haven’t yet look at any, just what was posted on SDL.

[Scarlett]

Off the topic, JP – how do you find if a certain place has a NOD? Just curious,since I’ve seen a place in my complex that I know it has been bought last Fall and looks like it hasn’t been occupied in a long time.

[Scarlett]

Off the topic, JP – how do you find if a certain place has a NOD? Just curious,since I’ve seen a place in my complex that I know it has been bought last Fall and looks like it hasn’t been occupied in a long time.

[Scarlett]

Off the topic, JP – how do you find if a certain place has a NOD? Just curious,since I’ve seen a place in my complex that I know it has been bought last Fall and looks like it hasn’t been occupied in a long time.

[Scarlett]

Off the topic, JP – how do you find if a certain place has a NOD? Just curious,since I’ve seen a place in my complex that I know it has been bought last Fall and looks like it hasn’t been occupied in a long time.

[Scarlett]

Off the topic, JP – how do you find if a certain place has a NOD? Just curious,since I’ve seen a place in my complex that I know it has been bought last Fall and looks like it hasn’t been occupied in a long time.

[Scarlett]

[quote=bubble_contagion]I rent at UTC and the market is soft. Back in October the retired couple living below my unit moved to a 1-bedroom to reduce expenses. It took until last week to rent the unit again. Two UCSD students and a cat finally moved in. I pretty sure they got a deal and, like most students, will move in 6 to 12 months. Either to student housing, with new room mates or to another apartment that offers a better “move in special”. Are you prepared to have the condo empty for 4-5 months or to look for new tenants every 6 months?[/quote]

Good point. I thought about that. I’d probably try not to rent to college students, but to a little older,more responsible people, that would stay longer. Of course that still doesn’t completely eliminate the risks of leaving early or trashing the place, but a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable. Which complex are you in?

[Scarlett]

[quote=bubble_contagion]I rent at UTC and the market is soft. Back in October the retired couple living below my unit moved to a 1-bedroom to reduce expenses. It took until last week to rent the unit again. Two UCSD students and a cat finally moved in. I pretty sure they got a deal and, like most students, will move in 6 to 12 months. Either to student housing, with new room mates or to another apartment that offers a better “move in special”. Are you prepared to have the condo empty for 4-5 months or to look for new tenants every 6 months?[/quote]

Good point. I thought about that. I’d probably try not to rent to college students, but to a little older,more responsible people, that would stay longer. Of course that still doesn’t completely eliminate the risks of leaving early or trashing the place, but a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable. Which complex are you in?

[Scarlett]

[quote=bubble_contagion]I rent at UTC and the market is soft. Back in October the retired couple living below my unit moved to a 1-bedroom to reduce expenses. It took until last week to rent the unit again. Two UCSD students and a cat finally moved in. I pretty sure they got a deal and, like most students, will move in 6 to 12 months. Either to student housing, with new room mates or to another apartment that offers a better “move in special”. Are you prepared to have the condo empty for 4-5 months or to look for new tenants every 6 months?[/quote]

Good point. I thought about that. I’d probably try not to rent to college students, but to a little older,more responsible people, that would stay longer. Of course that still doesn’t completely eliminate the risks of leaving early or trashing the place, but a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable. Which complex are you in?

[Scarlett]

[quote=bubble_contagion]I rent at UTC and the market is soft. Back in October the retired couple living below my unit moved to a 1-bedroom to reduce expenses. It took until last week to rent the unit again. Two UCSD students and a cat finally moved in. I pretty sure they got a deal and, like most students, will move in 6 to 12 months. Either to student housing, with new room mates or to another apartment that offers a better “move in special”. Are you prepared to have the condo empty for 4-5 months or to look for new tenants every 6 months?[/quote]

Good point. I thought about that. I’d probably try not to rent to college students, but to a little older,more responsible people, that would stay longer. Of course that still doesn’t completely eliminate the risks of leaving early or trashing the place, but a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable. Which complex are you in?

[Scarlett]

[quote=bubble_contagion]I rent at UTC and the market is soft. Back in October the retired couple living below my unit moved to a 1-bedroom to reduce expenses. It took until last week to rent the unit again. Two UCSD students and a cat finally moved in. I pretty sure they got a deal and, like most students, will move in 6 to 12 months. Either to student housing, with new room mates or to another apartment that offers a better “move in special”. Are you prepared to have the condo empty for 4-5 months or to look for new tenants every 6 months?[/quote]

Good point. I thought about that. I’d probably try not to rent to college students, but to a little older,more responsible people, that would stay longer. Of course that still doesn’t completely eliminate the risks of leaving early or trashing the place, but a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable. Which complex are you in?

[4plexowner]

“a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable”

this thing called financial reality has a way of squashing our preferences

my first rental properties were all apartment type units – common walls, etc – then I bought some single family houses and assumed I would be dealing with a higher class of tenants

the houses were nice but the ‘nice young family’ that I preferred as tenants had gone and purchased their own house because, as long as they could fog a mirror, they were able to purchase their own starter home instead of renting mine

so instead of renting to nice small families I ended up renting to room mates and dealing with the related issues

my point is that the nice things we think of while sitting around our kitchen table don’t always work out in reality – as a potential landlord I believe you would be better off thinking about how you will deal with real tenants instead of your ideal ones

what will you do when you realize your tenant has a cat although your lease says no pets? what will you do about the pad under the carpet that is now ruined and smells like cat urine?

what will you do at move-out time when the tenant is leaving you a unit that you will have to spend several hours cleaning?

what will you do on Thanksgiving day when the tenant calls and says the sink is backed up?

what will you do when the tenant gives you some BS about why they can’t pay the rent on time? (“my grandfather died” is the lamest excuse I was given – I didn’t bother asking how this affected their ability to pay rent – just handed them a 3-day pay or quit notice …)

what will you do when the tenant doesn’t pay last month’s rent and tells you to take it out of the security deposit?

what will you do when the unit has been vacant for 5 weeks and there are no good prospective tenants on the horizon?

[4plexowner]

“a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable”

this thing called financial reality has a way of squashing our preferences

my first rental properties were all apartment type units – common walls, etc – then I bought some single family houses and assumed I would be dealing with a higher class of tenants

the houses were nice but the ‘nice young family’ that I preferred as tenants had gone and purchased their own house because, as long as they could fog a mirror, they were able to purchase their own starter home instead of renting mine

so instead of renting to nice small families I ended up renting to room mates and dealing with the related issues

my point is that the nice things we think of while sitting around our kitchen table don’t always work out in reality – as a potential landlord I believe you would be better off thinking about how you will deal with real tenants instead of your ideal ones

what will you do when you realize your tenant has a cat although your lease says no pets? what will you do about the pad under the carpet that is now ruined and smells like cat urine?

what will you do at move-out time when the tenant is leaving you a unit that you will have to spend several hours cleaning?

what will you do on Thanksgiving day when the tenant calls and says the sink is backed up?

what will you do when the tenant gives you some BS about why they can’t pay the rent on time? (“my grandfather died” is the lamest excuse I was given – I didn’t bother asking how this affected their ability to pay rent – just handed them a 3-day pay or quit notice …)

what will you do when the tenant doesn’t pay last month’s rent and tells you to take it out of the security deposit?

what will you do when the unit has been vacant for 5 weeks and there are no good prospective tenants on the horizon?

[4plexowner]

“a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable”

this thing called financial reality has a way of squashing our preferences

my first rental properties were all apartment type units – common walls, etc – then I bought some single family houses and assumed I would be dealing with a higher class of tenants

the houses were nice but the ‘nice young family’ that I preferred as tenants had gone and purchased their own house because, as long as they could fog a mirror, they were able to purchase their own starter home instead of renting mine

so instead of renting to nice small families I ended up renting to room mates and dealing with the related issues

my point is that the nice things we think of while sitting around our kitchen table don’t always work out in reality – as a potential landlord I believe you would be better off thinking about how you will deal with real tenants instead of your ideal ones

what will you do when you realize your tenant has a cat although your lease says no pets? what will you do about the pad under the carpet that is now ruined and smells like cat urine?

what will you do at move-out time when the tenant is leaving you a unit that you will have to spend several hours cleaning?

what will you do on Thanksgiving day when the tenant calls and says the sink is backed up?

what will you do when the tenant gives you some BS about why they can’t pay the rent on time? (“my grandfather died” is the lamest excuse I was given – I didn’t bother asking how this affected their ability to pay rent – just handed them a 3-day pay or quit notice …)

what will you do when the tenant doesn’t pay last month’s rent and tells you to take it out of the security deposit?

what will you do when the unit has been vacant for 5 weeks and there are no good prospective tenants on the horizon?

[4plexowner]

“a UCSD staff or postdoc or other fulltime employees would be preferable”

this thing called financial reality has a way of squashing our preferences

my first rental properties were all apartment type units – common walls, etc – then I bought some single family houses and assumed I would be dealing with a higher class of tenants

the houses were nice but the ‘nice young family’ that I preferred as tenants had gone and purchased their own house because, as long as they could fog a mirror, they were able to purchase their own starter home instead of renting mine

so instead of renting to nice small families I ended up renting to room mates and dealing with the related issues

my point is that the nice things we think of while sitting around our kitchen table don’t always work out in reality – as a potential landlord I believe you would be better off thinking about how you will deal with real tenants instead of your ideal ones

what will you do when you realize your tenant has a cat although your lease says no pets? what will you do about the pad under the carpet that is now ruined and smells like cat urine?

what will you do at move-out time when the tenant is leaving you a unit that you will have to spend several hours cleaning?

what will you do on Thanksgiving day when the tenant calls and says the sink is backed up?

what will you do when the tenant gives you some BS about why they can’t pay the rent on time? (“my grandfather died” is the lamest excuse I was given – I didn’t bother asking how this affected their ability to pay rent – just handed them a 3-day pay or quit notice …)

what will you do when the tenant doesn’t pay last month’s rent and tells you to take it out of the security deposit?

what will you do when the unit has been vacant for 5 weeks and there are no good prospective tenants on the horizon?

[Author]

Posts