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Updated over 7 years ago, 08/09/2017
Buying my first house in San Diego at 22
I am a 22 year old student attending SDSU and I'm 2 weeks away from closing escrow on a 4-bedroom house. I thought I'd share my journey and make updates as time progresses. The house is being sold at $380,000, which is very reasonable in San Diego's current market. This is primarily because the house has a shared wall with the neighbor and is in a low-income neighborhood. However, for the area it is on a quiet street and is only 10 minutes away from downtown (Market Street/Mt. Hope).
It is move-in ready so I will only be upgrading the tile floors to to lament, adding a wall in the living room to make a fifth bedroom, and converting the garage into a studio. With myself living in one room, each other room bringing in $600 and the studio renting for approximately $850 I estimate I will bring in $800 monthly. 3,250 (gross income)-2,200 (mortgage)-250 (utilities)=800 (net monthly profit).
I have been marketing the rooms for about 2 weeks, but currently I am having a tough time finding good potential tenants. I do screen applicants pretty strictly and have received a lot of inquiries, however the calls I have received have been less than Ideal (not terrible, just not what I'd prefer). I am wondering if I should be more lenient on the type of tenants intend to rent to (provided they pass a credit check), lower the rent (I'm open to suggestions from people familiar with the area), wait to hear from more potential tenants, or a combination of these options.
I'd also love to hear any additional input or questions about my discussion,
Thank you!
-David