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bearishgurl
Participant[quote=spdrun]Most of whom could be pretty interesting people, I’d imagine.
Honestly, that sounds like parts of Maine. Keep in mind that the distance between L.A. and Arcata is about the same as between D.C. and northern Maine.
It’s only the same state because CA is farkin’ huge.[/quote]
Ft Bragg is probably the closest to “Maine-like” you will find in CA. All parts of it smell strongly of fish :=]
Participantscaredy, if you want to check Arcata out, fall is the best time of year up there! From your place, you can make it to Ukiah in one 9-10 hr day and stay the night there.
I would highly recommend you take this route on your last leg of the trip. Better sure to do it before dusk:
By the time you work your way outta there after having sampled in at least three wineries, you might just decide to hang it up and “retire” in Philo, Navarro or Boonville 🙂
Then spend the night in Ft Bragg and get on the Skunk train the next morning for a half-day excursion to Larkspur and back. Their “Pumpkin Express” ride is this Sunday, 10/20!
http://skunktrain.com/fort-bragg.html
On Saturday, November 2, they’re having a “Mushroom, Wine and Beer train.” (They’re VERY generous with the wine-tasting, btw.) I don’t think kids are allowed on this trip.
http://skunktrain.com/mushroom.html
The train comes back to Ft Bragg in the winter at 2:15 to 2:30 pm, at which time you can drive to Eureka/Arcata and make it there in time for early-check in 🙂
A suggestion: You can turn Veteran’s Day wknd into more days to make this trip. That’s also an EXCELLENT time to go (warm days and cool nights).
I wish I could have made it up there this fall but I had to go to flyover America, instead.
However, I’m looking forward to going to SF for X-mas week so all is not lost.
I think a change of scene will do wonders for you, scaredy. That same old daily/weekly/monthly slog from the office to the courthouse to the Little House to the Big House and back to the office eventually gets old … believe me, I KNOW :=0
ParticipantI think Arcata has the name “scaredycat” written all over it. He may very well be able to get an “adjunct prof gig” to teach the following subjects:
http://pine.humboldt.edu/anstud/cgi-bin/filter.pl?relevant=./cschd/schedFallPSCI.out
http://pine.humboldt.edu/anstud/cgi-bin/filter.pl?relevant=./cschd/schedFallHIST.out
http://pine.humboldt.edu/anstud/cgi-bin/filter.pl?relevant=./cschd/schedFallCRIM.out
scaredy, imho, you would fit right in up there. I don’t know if you are aware of this, but the bike paths up there are bar none … the best in the country. I think you would love it 🙂
Participant[quote=6packscaredy]what about arcata ca? i see a place on the coast like right ont he coast can be had for the 150’s. why the hell is everyone here in southern ca again? i cant remember…[/quote]
Very nice area, scaredy. Arcata, CA is the home of Humboldt State University and it is NOT technically “on the coast.” A lot of the “cheap” housing you are undoubtedly seeing up there are longtime permanently-skirted mobile homes (made to look like stick-built homes). Some are on oversized lots with nice gardens built up around them. Several beautifully-rehabbed Victorians grace Arcata’s streets.
Shhhh … Humboldt and its surrounding counties are one of America’s best kept “secrets.” Don’t let the cat out of the bag! Let the masses continue to prefer their cookie-cutter neighborhoods in SoCal, replete with Mello-Roos.
You can’t fix everything so don’t even try :=]
ParticipantIf given the choice between “retiring” in Daytona Beach or Arcata, I’d pick Arcata, hands down.
But that’s just me …
Participantscaredy, I was last there in ’83 and witnessed the driving on the beach. It was in August (thunderstorm and hurricane season), not spring break.
Don’t you have an old Datsun P/U or El Camino sitting around your premises? You could install small fans on the posts behind the two front seats and get the vehicle “roadworthy” to take a little jaunt there and see if you will like it. You’ll fit right in! You can get there is three days of hard driving or 4 days of more leisurely driving :=0
There are several inland campgrounds from Daytona Beach that are cheap accommodations for tent (or pop-up tent) camping. However, the fleas that time of year are horrible (the whole state is a giant sandbox, which quickly absorbs the rain). They are so thick that you can barely see the person (3 ft in front of you) whom you are talking to. And don’t try to boil shellfish on your campfire or your fleas will be much worse … they will literally blind you.
A couple of the roads around there are toll roads with wide shoulders where hoardes of RV’s park whenever there is a space shuttle launch. Sitting perched on beach chairs on the roof of an RV parked on the side of the road for 8 hrs straight waiting for a launch is a favorite past-time of tourists in that area.
I hobbled out of FL a walking Calamine bottle with my arms and legs a crusty pink shell and the rest of me generally looking rather “lobsterized.”
And this was after diligently using repellent :=0
As much “fun” as I had there, I haven’t had the chance to go back . . .
Participant[quote=Jazzman]Dear Eve39
[snip]
Firstly, and belatedly welcome to San Diego (from San Diegan’s (I don’t live there)) and au revoir if you have already left (that’s OK, I left too). This is my assumption since you haven’t responded.
[snip]
Yours sincerely,
Jazzman
(Also not from around here)[/quote]
@Jazzman, of course Eve could help us out here if she checks back in but I think you might possibly have the wrong saluation. Try “Vis es: snart.”In my experience, most of the European residents residing in Pt Loma are Swedes 🙂
Participant[quote=flu]well I just did a test listing for a
1/1 MM condo at a reasonable price.4 people as of this morning, interested and ready to move in immediately… all qualcomm senior engineers… Just saying….Things still look pretty healthy to me….[/quote]
flu, what is currently a “reasonable price” to you for the purchase of a typical 1/1 in MM?
And, are there any current listings there which you think will sell for that price??
Participant[quote=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.[/quote]
spdrun, did you actually see the asking prices on the listings I provided? A couple of the listings +/- $350K were 3/4 bdrm good-sized homes! The rent on these homes (if first cosmetically repaired/fixed up, if needed) would be OVER $2K month.
Also take a look at the $250K – $350K listings I provided and tell us how much monthly rent you think they would fetch. (Of course, the 2? SS’s are priced as “teasers” and will likely fetch higher offers.)
I disagree that SFRs in SD County are not priced competitively enough to be viable investment properties because they undoubtedly ARE (in a few micro-markets).
ParticipantAs 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.
Participant[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.
Participant[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.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]I don’t know PQ as well, but I did some research. Most the Section 8 renters in PQ are in city owned complexes. They don’t live in the condo complexes where the rents are higher.
On the demographics, I will answer the question.
I don’t now about intelligence, but for qualification purposes, I would rather have employment verification from UCSD, Qualcomm, Motorola, Lumina, Genprobe, etc… I don’t really trust income verification from the bar in hillcrest, or the hair shop in Chula Vista. I don’t want to talk to someone’s boss or manager either because they could be in it together. I prefer an official verification from HR.
I also prefer that they drive new cars and don’t have furniture to move from storage or another rental.
On size, 1200sf is 1200sf. Some of the links you posted were about that size, no?
It’s not whack to pay $1800 if you work less than 15 minutes away.
Again, I’m waiting for links in the city of San Diego for $350k, not Chula Vista and not in El Cajon, please. What are the choices?[/quote]
My point was, FIH, that you think, as a LL, you can’t get employment verification from “HR” except for properties in your one or two desired rental zip codes. By this statement, you are in essence stating that NP tenant-applicants or ChulaV applicants or wherever else you feel is “inferior” to those close-in zips to tech centers don’t have “proper” employment verification. I don’t buy it because PLENTY of tenants (yes, even in the lowest-income zip codes in SD) have employment verification from HR available to a prospective LL. And, FWIW, there are likely plenty of “hairdressers” renting (and owning) in MM.
It seems every time a new poster comes on here and asks about investment property, they are “steered” to invest in a condo in the MM area (even if they were shopping far away from there, as this poster was).
I kept the subject SFRs because that is what the OP stated she was shopping for. I’m pretty sure she’s aware that condos exist in SD.
And why would any tenant want to pay $1800 to $2000 mo for rent if they didn’t have anything to move into the place? Why wouldn’t a tenant like that rent a furnished room in a private home, instead. It doesn’t make sense.
I haven’t looked around in 92115 yet and I only looked at SFRs in 92104/92116, found some, but was not happy with the sf of the dwelling or lot for the asking price. Yes, some “starter homes” are the same size as condos inside BUT have the privacy of a home, off-st parking for up to six cars AND possible garage. You can’t change the fact that a condo owner (not PUD) only owns airspace. And a “fractional interest” at that. They basically just own the right to control a particular unit … but only to the extent allowed by the HOA.
You are suggesting apt-like condos as rental investments for this poster. SFRs (with front/backyard and poss garage) are completely different animals and thus start and end at a higher price point than condos in each area. Of course, if I changed my search parameters to condos, I could likely find a few everywhere that meet the OP’s criteria in almost all zip codes. I didn’t consider condos for her because of the HOA dues and possible special assessments. I don’t think paying dues every month is worth it for a small investment property if a prospective LL can get the same or nearly the same rent for the same purchase price without doing so. Yes, even for a free and clear property. It’s NOT WORTH IT for a LL TO PAY MO DUES if they don’t have to. The OP lives in metro SD, NOT MM and NOT out of county and so can manage a local SFR herself, after learning the ropes. It isn’t rocket science.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, let’s recap here.
the CL link I posted was for a 1200 sf 2/2 + loft at $1,800 in MM. I think that $2,000 is feasible if the place is updated and modern.
Flu said that a 1/1 in MM goes for $1250 to $1,400.
Those are real, not pie in the sky rents.
We are talking investment rental here. That means returns on investment.
$1,800 for a 2/2 + study is not too much for 2 college educated professionals to share. For trouble free rental, would you rather rent to 2 professionals or a family with kids? I’ve observed that professionals, when they decide to get married and have kids, will go and buy their own place. So families are “lesser”, not as people, but as desirable tenants.
I wouldn’t discriminate against a family, but I’d rather own a rental where I don’t have to deal with families who break things and get my walls dirty. From a landlord and neighbor perspective, kids are little monsters.
I don’t want a tenant who has junk to store in a garage. I want a tenant with easily verifiable income who owns no furniture. A tenant who drives new car that doesn’t leak oil or will break down that he needs to take the bus.
In fact, a guy/gal just off the plane from China, Switzerland, or Russia, or whatever, on a fellowship at UCSD or a new job at Qualcomm is perfect. Those guys, if single, have social networks and will find a roommate to share a 2/2 (there are some ways of landing such tenants but I won’t share them here).
BG, I can tell you that in screening tenants for North Park, vs. Sorrento, I’ve seen the difference. I personally prefer easy to verify tenants because they are less trouble for me.
I personally prefer North Park over Mira Mesa to live (I think that’s why selling prices are relatively higher for lesser housing), but not to own as a landlord.
You need to compartmentalize and focus to achieve your financial goals.[/quote]
I looked at the photos of the listings you provided again and they do appear to be 2 bdrm condos. Both condos appear to be on the small side compared to the (mostly lesser-expensive but mostly fully rehabbed) links of available SFRs in Chula Vista I posted. If you think you could consistently get $1800 to $2000 rent per month (what, with a gold-plated spiral stair-rail?) for one of these units, I just have a hard time believing that, given that I have been inside a handful of units in 92122. The units I visited friends in were very well-managed complexes in direct competition to your newer MM units, ALL of which were 1750 to 2200 sf with an attached 2-car garage. Once rents start nearing the $2K mark, the typical tenant-applicant starts shopping for a SFR or house-like condo to rent. And who can blame them?
Sorry but MM/UTC is NOT SF and never will be.
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.
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