Investment property San Diego

[Coronita]

[quote=bearishgurl]flu, instead of taking up bandwidth, why don’t you explain yourself a little better?[/quote]

Just because you think it’s ridiculous to pay $1800/month for a 1/1 somewhere, doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of people who would and/or plenty of people who can afford to and willing to afford to.

As I stated earlier

$1400 gets you a 1/1 condo in MM, in which you would have no difficulty filling with an well qualified applicant of 700+credit score, $80k+ salary…

In places near College Area/SDSU, the same $1400/month gets me tenants for 2/2 who can afford that…A lot more people with questionable credit, and a lot higher turnover rate due to the location of where it’s at…

Different tenant pools, different financial situations,etc.

Purchase prices about the same, rent about the same. PITA factor not the same. And for now, appreciation definitely not the same. MM definitely leaders in the latter two points for the same amount of money and rent..MM 1/1 from my point of view has seen about a 35% appreciation, and rent has gone up, and there is relatively low/no vacancy for a 1/1. 2/2 place around College Area has a lot more competition, the appreciation hasn’t quite happened there yet. And the turnover is higher probability.

FWIW: there is are people willing to pay $1800/month for a 1/1. They would be called Carmel Valley renters…The same sort of people that would thumb their nose at the thought of living in MM (sorry AN, not to offend where you’re at)…There was a point of time in which CarmelValley was break even or slightly cash flow + with standard 20% down…Those days are long gone as well. Why would people buy at close to break even or slightly up for rental? Well some people believe better area => better chances of better appreciation without the risk of getting shot. But seriously, there’s a market for “expensive” condos… What only matters if you can get the numbers to work…

You can argue all you want on why certain area prices are or are not justified. The only thing is what they really are, not what you want to believe it should be…At least that’s the case if what you care about is making money…

Personally, if I could rent out a cardboard box for $1800/month, I would…I wouldn’t live in it myself.. But hey, if there’s a market for it, and it’s legal, and someone wants to pay, go for it…

[bearishgurl]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]
I stand by my assertion that it’s wacky to pay $1800+ for a small, narrow, 2 bdrm condo with no garage … even in SD and/or MM, because there are so many other choices at that rental price point.[/quote]

This is basically why this discussion is going on as long as it has. You think it’s wacky. Which has absolutely no bearing on the discussion. Tenants ARE paying it, so it doesn’t matter what you think of it.[/quote]

I have only seen the CL ad that FIH posted for $1800 mo rent. I have no idea what the actual monthly rent collected is for a comparable unit there.

I think FIH has a few “pie-in-the-sky” views about who his “dream tenants” are, that they will be standing in line to apply for his vacant unit(s) and exactly what they will pay (consistently, month after month) for a 1114 sf narrow condo with no garage in MM.

[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 (co-workers are fine in my book), 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.

[bearishgurl]

[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?

Thanks.

[an]

[quote=bearishgurl]Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, AN. If the market rent in PQ is $1800 mo for a small 3 bdrm with a garage, the tenant in unit #101 is paying $1800 mo and the tenant next door in their mirror (identical) unit (#102) is paying $225 with a $1575 Section 8 voucher, you might not be able to tell which is which.

Don’t count on being able to tell who the “Section 8” tenant is by the vehicle they drive or the clothing they wear. OR whether each works FT or not, because, believe it or not, some Section 8 tenants are allowed to work FT.[/quote]It’s pretty easy to tell that a QCOM H1B worker does not have a section 8 voucher. It’s pretty easy to tell a UCSD student does not have a section 8 voucher.

[spdrun]

* It’s not in 92115, it’s in 92108.
* It’s a 1/1.
* Tenant has been awesome so far. I had a bit of a crowd to choose from, though the first person who showed up, was genuinely interested, and sent me references turned out to be good enough.
* I’d absolutely live in the unit, at least short term, though if I moved to SD long-term, I’d probably try to find a 2/1 in PB or North Park (more walkable, less boring, though the unit isn’t horrible since it’s near some shops and a tram stop). Retirement is a looooong way away 🙂

[an]

[quote=bearishgurl]AN, of course you know that 92121 is Sorrento Mesa/Valley, NOT MM (92126). Regardless of any SFR tracts built on Calle Cristobal, the development(s) that FIH is referring to is relatively new, as are those nearby “spec-home” monstrosities that we’ve discussed here a few times.[/quote]Seriously, DO YOUR RESEARCH. I’ve said it more than a few time, but it doesn’t seem to work. So, maybe all caps will. Part of 92121 IS Mira Mesa. How many times do I have to say it before you get it. If you don’t believe me, just do your research.

FYI, that condo FIH posted was built in 1990. That’s freakin’ 23 years ago. Since when is 23 years relatively new?

[spdrun]

Considering some neighborhoods in SD have a lot of 1910-1930 houses and others have a lot of apts and condos built in the 1960s through 80s, 1990 is relatively new.

Hell, by non-SD (northeastern) standards, 1990 is practically new-build 🙂 Assuming halfway decent construction quality, the building should be able to last 50+ years at minimum — 23 years old is nothing.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]Considering some neighborhoods in SD have a lot of 1910-1930 houses and others have a lot of apts and condos built in the 1960s through 80s, 1990 is relatively new.

Hell, by non-SD (northeastern) standards, 1990 is practically new-build 🙂 Assuming halfway decent construction quality, the building should be able to last 50+ years at minimum — 23 years old is nothing.[/quote]We’re talking about Mira Mesa, not North Park. The oldest home in Mira Mesa was built ~35 years ago. So 23 years ago is not new, unless you think the entire Mira Mesa is relatively new.

[spdrun]

I’d say that MM as a whole is relatively new by SD standards, yes. Assuming that plastic plumbing issues were addressed, what’s the major disadvantage of a 23-year old home vs a 10-year old home in a climate as mild as SD’s?

As long as location, amount of floor space/rooms, condition, and price is right, I really don’t think that most tenants will even ask about age.

[Coronita]

Well looks as of today, I’ll be in SS purgatory for a traincar …. I hope it goes through without a glitch…

Hopefully that’s 4 down, and just 16 to go 🙁

Choooo choooo…

[SD Realtor]

Hmmm….. take advice from people who are landlords and own properties in a given area or listen to others who are not landlords and who have never lived in a certain area….

what to do, what to do….

[an]

[quote=SD Realtor]Hmmm….. take advice from people who are landlords and own properties in a given area or listen to others who are not landlords and who have never lived in a certain area….

what to do, what to do….[/quote]
haha…
+1

[bearishgurl]

As a couple of other posters have mentioned here, when purchasing investment property, listen to your gut. If you are already highly familiar with an area, possibly live in it and “know everybody” as Jazzman stated, then by all means, purchase an investment property you can walk to if you can at a fair price. A Pt Loma resident (unspecified tenure in Pt Loma but I happen to be aware that there have always been a few thousand Europeans in temporary and even permanent legal residence in Pt Loma) who wouldn’t likely be “familiar” with a condo w/homeowner dues in a much more congested area ~15 miles away. They would more likely be familiar with single-family housing in metro San Diego. (No, MM and SV/SM are NOT in “metro San Diego.” Even though they have City zip codes, they are considered “first-tier suburbs.”)

Chula Vista is actually closer to metro SD than SV/SM/MM and does not even require a fwy to get to SD.

I’m not saying Eve should shop there, only stating that nice investment SFRs are available in that area NOW. They are NOT inflated $100K+ from 2 yrs ago because most of them have been flipped or extensively rehabbed by their long-term owners. In other words, the price some of them may have to sold to a flipper in the recent past is moot, since they likely were a long-time rental wreck when purchased by the flipper. I’ve seen these flipping teams in action around here and, for the most part, they do a good job (and take the eyesore off the block thus lifting all boats).

Since Eve stated she had concerns (about repairs, and rightly so) on a circa 1925 home in NP, a flipped or rehabbed older home might just be her solution for an investment property. It is smarter to invest in something like this (that she, herself would be willing to live in) than pay $235+ in monthly HOA dues when she could take her chances that her tenants likely wouldn’t need $235+ worth of services from her every month.

It is customary in SD County for tenants of a SFR to pay all their own utilities including sewer, water and trash pickup (if applic) and perhaps on a PUD just gas/elec and trash pickup (if applic). $235 month is $2820 year, and in my book, that’s a lot of $$ thrown out the window when you can get the same or higher rent from investing in 1-4 units and don’t have to pay it. Tenants also tend to stay longer in SFRs (if the rent is reasonable) with Section 8 tenants staying the longest (abt 8 yrs, on avg, I believe). In this case, 50-80% of the rent is guaranteed every month to the LL. Applying to be a Section 8 LL is a bit of a detailed procedure but well worth it to a lot of owners of investment property. It’s just something to consider.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Section 8 tenants have kids and they aren’t allowed to conduct drug sales and other illegal activity in/outside of their units. If reported by neighbors and found to be doing so by the local HUD office, they will lose their voucher. The voucher is very valuable to them and it just isn’t worth it for them to give the appearance of anyone but a resident who blends in perfectly with their surroundings.

[spdrun]

I’m not disagreeing with you on a national level, but in my experience, SFR prices in SD are sufficiently high as to render the lack of condo fees moot.

i.e., you can get a higher rent per $100k with condo fees subtracted on a condo than the rent per $100k on a house. If it’s a cash buy-and-hold, the lesser ability to get a mortgage on a condo vs an SFR is moot.

[Author]

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