30 Day Minimum Short Term Rental Analysis & Risks in Los Angeles

[Kim Hopkins]

Hello!

I'm an experienced industrial real estate investor, but a completely inexperienced potential short term housing rental investor.

We recently moved from Los Angeles to Flagstaff, Arizona. We kept our home in Los Angeles and would like to still visit so are not yet ready to sell. We are contemplating turning it into a short term rental. 

The rules in Los Angeles apparently say that we can only rent for a minimum of 30-day periods since it will not be our primary residence. I'm trying to assess three things: 

1. How do I get some data on rental rate and yearly occupancy % for Los Angeles with a 30-day minimum period so I can put together a pro-forma on if the numbers make sense? I can't find anything like this since most websites like Air DNA seem to focus on short term (no 30 day minimum) rentals. 
2. Does anyone know or have a guess to the laws pertaining to evictions with these kinds of stays? I would think that I can always evict a guest at the end of the rental term regardless of any moratorium but I want to be damn sure the current Covid LA eviction moratorium and any other crazy LA eviction laws don't apply to this short-but-long-term rental situation. 
3. Is there anything else I should consider, pros or cons, before doing this that I may not be thinking of? 

We are in general very hesitant to do any business in California (all our properties are outside the state), but I thought this would be hopefully low risk and offset some of the mortgage and other costs on the house. 

Thank you!
Kim 

[Joe Splitrock]

Originally posted by @Kim Hopkins:

@kennethbrisco hi Kenneth could you clarify what you mean? The law is that I can't rent it for less than 30 days because it is not my primary residence. Hiring a property manager wouldn't make it my primary residence or theirs unless they were willing to claim it as their primary residence which I don't think is what you were saying. 

 He is telling you how to break the law and avoid getting caught. I will just comment as a moderators, we ask people in the forums to not recommend illegal activity to others. Breaking the law is not creative or good business practice.

I would not be afraid to offer short term rental options, say 30-90 days, but I would do full tenant screening and have them sign a lease. Do not use platforms like AirBNB without having your own lease with the tenant. If you rent to someone with good credit, I wouldn't worry so much about eviction down the road. People with good credit do everything they can to pay their bills. Of course California is tenant friendly. The absolute worst nightmare eviction stories I have hears are all from California. You can expect eviction bans continued under Biden presidency, so just make sure you are renting to solid people with solid jobs.