Rental Market

[doublewide]

We’re renting a 2300sf place in Wine Country, Scripps Ranch. Lease is up in July so we’ve begun looking for a new rental…this area is not a good fit for us.

Does anyone here live in 4s Ranch? Opinions?

We like the idea of a newer house. The place we’re in now was built in 1977 and still has orig. windows – very noisy (close to MCAS Miramar) and not very insulating. Also, 4s seems to have lots of open parks and walking areas where we can walk our dogs.

We’ve noticed lots of rentals in the area and figure it’s because of flippers who can’t sell…how do we protect ourselves from a flipper who may go into forclosure causing a bank to evict us? If we go through an rental agency or agent is there some sort of disclosure of that information that is required?

Any other areas you all would recommend? Husband is born and bred Poway and I’ve done it all from PQ to LJ with my family so we’re looking for something new. We’re looking for family neighborhoods with no Hummers, no RVs, no Ski Boats hogging up the sidewalks. Any thoughts on Carlsbad, Encinitas, Del Mar?

Also, besides craigslist and the union trib., any other rental listing sites out there?

Thanks in advance for any info.

[Anonymous]

Doublewide,

What’s your upper end on rent? We’ve been looking to rent recently (just relocated from AZ) in the 1600 to 2200 sq ft range at prices $2500 or less, detached houses only. We have a one year old son and two dogs. The best we’ve found so far is a 3br/2ba 2150 sq ft in Scripps Ranch for $2300. That home was built in 94 and is in the eastern part of Scripps Ranch(Pomerado at Spring Canyon). It sounds like you don’t like the older area of Scripps much, but you might check out some of the newer areas to the north and the east.

Other areas we’ve liked that still have reasonable commutes to Sorrento Valley include Encinitas/Olivenhain (East of El Camino Real) and Carmel Mountain Ranch. Carlsbad is also nice, but just a little farther than we’re willing to go. Del Mar, Solana Beach (we prefer East of the 5), and Carmel Valley are all quite nice, though they are outside of our price range (unless we want a 1300 sq ft townhome, which we don’t!). In 3 to 5 years we’d eventually like to buy in Encinitas/Solana Beach/Del Mar/Carmel Valley (essentially the San Dieguito School District).

Given the prices we’re seeing we’ll end up in Scripps, CMR, or Encinitas. Encinitas is our favorite town, CMR would be the most convenient, and Scripps seems to offer the best value. You might also look at Rancho Penasquitos. Probably even a better value than Scripps, but just a bit dingy in some neighborhoods. Not as bad as Mira Mesa, but the quality of the neighborhoods in Rancho P seems to vary block-to-block. We haven’t looked at 4S ranch, but that’s probably because most of the rentals there are outside of our price range.

We use Craiglist exclusively. Lots more listings than the local papers.

-BubbleNinja

[booter1]

Assessing Landlord Risk

I just spoke with an experienced RE attorney in California
to inquire as to tenants’ rights in the event a home that was being rented were to go REO. Essentially, he said that if a rental home goes REO, the banks (as new owners) can evict the tenants because the foreclosure effectively wipes out all considerations such as leases, second mortgages, etc.

Assuming this is true, the only way I can see to mitigate
(probably not eliminate)that risk is to find out the amount of equity/debt the landlord has in the property.
Any thoughts from the group on the best way to obtain this information? Thanks.

[little lady]

“Also, besides craigslist and the union trib., any other rental listing sites out there?”

My answer is sandiegobackpage.com, not as good as the above mentioned, but gets quite a few listings, it’s free here’s the link…

sandiego.backpage.com/rentals/classifieds/

[no_such_reality]

Any thoughts from the group on the best way to obtain this information?

Look at the property tax rolls to determine purchase price.

Then check the Grantor/Grantee index for the owners name on subsequent liens.

[unbiasedobserver]

bubbleninja, i just relocated to SD and work in SV. We looked at the exact places you mention (enc, sr, rp). If you plan to go to work between 7:30 and 8:30 and return between 4:00 and 6:00, count on an extra 2 hrs/ day spent sitting in your car for everyone of those places vs living closer or in CV/DM. If you’re heading north on 5 and have to pass del mar heights blvd, best of luck to you. Also going down Mira mesa is a nightmare. Before you commit to living anywhere I would highly suggest you try out the commute at the time you intend to make it (and do it Wednesday-Friday). For whatever reason there is very little traffic on Monday. I happened to interview on Monday and drove north afterwards, and mistakenly concluded that commuting to Encinitas would not be a problem!:-( One of the biggest mistakes of my life.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice. You’ve got to make sacrifices. Del Mar and C.V. are too expensive for what we need in a place, and we do not like Mira Mesa. I’ve done the commute for each direction to CMR/S.R./Encinitas and it really doesn’t seem that bad to me (well Encinitas can be a bear at peak). Plus, compared to L.A. and even Phoenix (I’ve lived both places), the San Diego rush hour is fairly short. I can work 9 to 6 and I don’t think that’ll be bad at all.

And really, we’re debating a commute from Encinitas and Scripps Ranch to freakin’ Sorrento Valley. That isn’t exactly Temecula to downtown now is it. 2 hours extra roundtrip is really overstating the issue.

[PerryChase]

If we go through an rental agency or agent is there some sort of disclosure of that information that is required

If you use an agency, you can ask them to verify that info for you. If they don't then you don't have to sign the rental agreement, and they don't get the commission. You sound like a great tenant and financially stable landlords would be happy to have you. Finding good tenants is just as hard (or more so) than finding a good house to rent. Even, if you rent directly from a landlord, you can ask them about their loan/equity situation. If they run a credit check on you, you could just as easily run a credit check on them. All they can do is say no.

[4plexowner]

I know what I would say to a potential tenant if they started asking financial questions: “Next!!!!!”

Several years ago I had two law students asking financial questions about me and my property when we got together to sign the lease – then they saw the lease and suddenly changed their minds – I suspect that they saw they would be leasing from an LLC and not an individual so they moved on (harder to sue an LLC for a faked trip-and-fall accident)

OK, so I’m paranoid, I admit that freely – but suggesting that potential tenants ask financial questions of the landlord does not seem like good advice to me – it does however seem like a great way to ensure that you WON’T get to rent the place you are asking questions about

[PerryChase]

I agree with you 4plexowner. As an owner, I would decline to provide my personal info as well.

However, I believe that life is a 2-way street. Whether you’re a tenant or an employee, don’t let the landlord or employer hold all the cards. Put yourself in a position to negotiate so you don’t get steam-rolled.

I believe in fairness and a contract that is all one-sided is not a “real” contract in my book.

As a prospective tenant, if you ask nicely and appropriately, you probably will get the assurance that you need.

[booter1]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I agree with PerryChase that the best strategy for us is to try to find someone that will work with us to assure us that the house will not go REO and we will work hard to assure them that we will be excellent, long-term tenants. That way both sides feel good about the transaction and have done the proper due diligence. Obviously, life holds no guarantees but you do the best you can to mitigate risk and then move forward.

[kicksavedave]

My last two landlords asked me things like: “How long have you had this job?” “How long do you plan on staying here?” and “Are you looking to buy a house in the next few years”. I answered them all truthfully, then asked them the following: “How long have you owned this property?” “Do you have any plans to sell it in the next few years?” and “If I like living here are you willing to sign a 2 or 3 year lease?”. Knowing how long they’ve owned it should give you a decent idea on their equity status, albeit not a 100% guarantee.

Any landlord who is afraid to answer questions like that is probably hiding something, and I’d be verywary of signing with them. You don’t need to ask them specific financial questions about their private matters, but issues pertaining to your ability to remain in the house beyond 6 months are totally fair and reasonable.

[hd]

I was able to find the purchase price of my rental at http://users.ixpres.com/~gtriphan/index.html. Zillow also lists purchase prices if you go to the graph view. You can compare that to your possible rent and see if it pencils out for the landlord.

From Notice of Default to completion of forclosure takes 150 days in San Diego, then 2 more months until it is listed for sale. Tenants will probably get a 30 days’ evicion notice after completion of forclosure before an eviction lawsuit is filed. So it seems that as long as you find out when the NOD happens, you have plenty of time to figure out your options.

Finally, there is a google based map of area risk (collateral risk, etc.) at http://www.neighboroo.com/

[PerryChase]

Thanks for the links, hd. I didn’t know about http://www.neighboroo.com. Cool maps.

http://www.neighboroo.com also links to http://www.homesmartreports.com/ for purchase/loan/sales data. Nice tool to have if you’re a renter or buyer.

[Author]

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