Is Victorville, CA Worth Investing In? New Investor Needs Help!

[Matthew Vandegrift]

Hi everyone, I'm an aspiring real estate investor finishing up my bachelor's degree in Phoenix, AZ. My wife and I plan to move to California in about 10 months when I finish. We want to settle somewhere in Orange County, probably Newport Beach, but can't afford it right now. I was listening to on of the Webinars and Brandon mentioned that within two hours of anywhere there is something that is affordable. So, I opened up my spectrum and found Victorville. The prices seem to be some of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, in Southern California, but I found that over the past 10 years the housing prices have depreciated. My question is, is Victorville a good place to start investing in Southern California? We are looking to househack a duplex to start and our goal is to stay below $135,000 housing price with around $12,500 initial investment. I ran the numbers through the rental calculator and found a couple of deals that look good on paper, but I'm worried that the prices will continue to fall. There is also a large number of vacant homes in Victorville (10%). We are looking to buy and hold rental properties, with duplexes or other small multifamily homes being our main focus. Are there other places in Southern California that are good for investors with our investing criteria? Thank you for your feedback!

[Alfred Logan]

How are you.? I'm an investor in the High Desert. I'm also an agent and in this market you will not be able to find a duplex for 135k in an area that will be worth it. Properties are a lot more reasonable out here, but prices are going up everywhere. I'm not looking to sell you a house I came to BP to find likeminded investors. Let's talk...

[Zach Adams]

In addition to what Alfred said, I don't think you'd want to share living space with a tenant in a <$135k house in Victorville.

[Matthew Vandegrift]

Thank you both so much for your posts Alfred and Zach. Is there anywhere within a two hour radius of OC that would fit into our pricing goal (we're pretty open to anywhere in Southern California)? Also, how much would you say a duplex in a more desirable area would run in the Victorville area? It seems that two bedroom apartments run around $700-800. We're looking mostly at duplexes with at least 2 bed/1 bath per side; also, my wife's mom will probably be our initial "tenant" in the other side.

[Ali Boone]

Unfortunately there really aren't. A lot of CA folks buy out-of-state because of it (I do too), but more importantly--I really don't encourage you to move somewhere (like Victorville especially) just for the sake of house-hacking. You will still lose money and then you'll be living in a miserable place (unless you are fine in the piping hot desert with no one to hang out with). If you were profiting big by doing so, maybe, but unlike a lot of SoCal and as you mention with the depreciation of Victorville--the desert cities are the biggest crashers in a downed economy and the last to appreciate. Anywhere else in SoCal, maybe you could at least hit some appreciation profit, but Victorville is really a loss in all directions (especially sanity, which isn't worth any investment).

[Mark Nolan]

@Matthew Vandegrift

Welcome to the Bigger Pockets community. It is a great place to learn about real estate.

[Toi H.]

My mother currently lives in Victorville and say's there are so many vacant homes that they are literally being given away (maybe she's exaggerating on the give away) and no one is buying.  Renting there is low - I believe she pay's $800 per month 2200 sq ft home and doesn't want to buy because she hasn't found the perfect house yet.  But anyway, in my personal opinion moving to Victorville after leaving AZ may cause you to feel like you never left AZ.  I agree with the other respondents; a duplex for $135k is almost non-existent or you may be able to find something in an undeveloped compromising neighborhood. But other areas 2 hrs away from OC is a large parameter (San Bernardino County, LA County, Riverside County, and San Diego).  You may want to narrow your search based on where you and or your wife will be commuting to and from work.

[Darnell Kramer]

Well @Matthew Vandegrift

I have been visiting Hesperia for years as my Grandmother lives out there.  There has been tons of development over the time and the area has grown.  While we all know Ali is an ocean rat and not a desert one, it is a different class of people out there.  Even different from when I lived in Phoenix.  I think Toi has a great strategy.  start with an area you may wanna commute from, or at least take a weekend drive to visit the great old Victor Valley. 

The area, in my mind, is much better for a 'subject to' area. 

Welcome aboard.

[Bryan Collins]

I moved from Phoenix to Victorville 3 years ago. There are improvements being made and this town is still growing. I know this area got hit pretty hard with the downturn, but it is recovering. This is a commuter town plain and simple. Most people who live here, live here for the inexpensive housing and travel the 45-95 mins to their work. There are a number of properties that are available with 2-3 houses on one lot for a good price. Do your DD and you'll see. 

[Dan H.]

My view is that Victorville is for people with more time than money who use that time to commute rather than have free time (to either enjoy or look for ways to improve their situation) and therefore are in a position that is difficult to improve.  They buy at a reduced price and get a nicer place to live but they spend countless hours commuting and have less time to enjoy things or improve their lot.

Compared to someone that buys the smallest property closer to where they work (their home is no where near as nice as if they purchased in Victorville).  They live in a tiny place that may need some TLC but they have more free time (shorter commute = more free time).  In that free time they can choose to use it to find ways to improve their financial situation or they can use it to do what they enjoy (or a combination).   I believe the property with the shorter commute is likely to appreciate more but lets say they appreciate the same.  Which would you expect would be easier to rent?  I think it is very reasonable that the lesser commute will rent easier and probably for a greater rent per cost than the property with the long commute.

I also do not like Victorville.  I like the desert to visit but not so much to live.  Victorville is small and therefore does not have things like Sports teams, zoos, quality museums, etc.  Do you want to commute 2 to 3 hours round trip to see a sporting event?

So unless you and your wife can find work near Victorville I would look at other options (any other options).

[Brian Lacey]

No one has mentioned Victorville Community College. They bring in a lot of out of state football players. The CC has no housing, so this is one avenue to look into. 

Most Community College / Junior Colleges, with a few exceptions in Northern California, do not provide on campus housing.

No harm in contacting the college, and offering a property for CC students, with the caveat being they pass your tenant screening.

[Jo-Ann Lapin]

You really need to be careful. Too see which areas are desireable  for you need to look into population count, unemployment history for the last 20 years and lastly the median income for the area.

[Ron Woods]

Originally posted by @Bryan Collins:

I moved from Phoenix to Victorville 3 years ago. There are improvements being made and this town is still growing. I know this area got hit pretty hard with the downturn, but it is recovering. This is a commuter town plain and simple. Most people who live here, live here for the inexpensive housing and travel the 45-95 mins to their work. There are a number of properties that are available with 2-3 houses on one lot for a good price. Do your DD and you'll see. 

 Hey Bryan, we spoke awhile back. Gonna contact you about buying in your area as I need an agent out there. Talk to you soon

[Brent Seehusen]

Originally posted by @Jo-Ann Lapin:

You really need to be careful. Too see which areas are desireable  for you need to look into population count, unemployment history for the last 20 years and lastly the median income for the area.

This is a good suggestion but it might be difficult to obtain all of that data.  I believe Google has a map of school rankings and Trulia has a crime map.  Between the two of those you should be able to compare the quality of different areas pretty easily.