All Forum Posts by: Jeff T.

@Steven Smith  Ditto the advice on talking with an agent. Find out as much as you can about the market and different areas as well as rents. FYI, parts of Los Angeles have some rent control, while Culver City does not.

@Joseph M. That is a good question, I don't know what the CAP rates are at the moment. I don't have any commercial property, but it seems that Long Beach has a good future given that it's coastal and the city is actively trying to improve and there is a lot of room to improve due to the low prices vs other coastal areas and some areas are still run down.

@Jake Gove  Maybe you should talk to your property manager about how they are trying to find a tenant and or look into finding another PM.  I'm not an expert in SFRs that big in that exact area, but my small property manager that normally has about 10 properties available, has maybe 1 or 2 at any time. The rental market is strong and went up 5% according to Marcus and Millichap last year. I'm just saying this so that you don't make an emotional decision based on some temporary expenses.

Whether you sell or rent should depend on your longer term goals and what you can get for selling vs renting it. It sounds like it's in a good area near Disney, but it's a large house for a rental, but that might work in that area.

@Jake Gove I'm curious why you can't find a renter to break even since rents have increased quite a bit in the area since 2012. Were you losing money before? 

I'm just wondering if you have more options than just selling.  Also, have you lived in the house? If you've lived in the house 2 of the last 5 years, you may be able to sell and not pay tax on the gains.

Just some thoughts

@Mo S. I think Long Beach has a nice future. Some incoming jobs, a fair amount of building light industrial. It's coastal and and the city is investing in infrastructure to grow. Plus there's just a lot of crappy inventory that can get fixed up. I would keep looking there.

@David Gwilt Got it, thanks.  For starters, just a few things to think about. Insurance is much more expensive and harder to get per $.  Property tax % are higher than CA and adjust every year to market value compared to limited adjustments in CA.

Concrete block homes are preferable in FL compared to stick built or "frame" houses typically. Insurance is cheaper for the block homes.

For single family, the tenants do their own yard, but if you get a 2-4 unit property, lawncare is pricy compared to CA. Roughly $150/mo depending on what it is and where.

Some ruralish properties are on septic systems.

Anyhow, just a few things to keep in mind.

@David Gwilt, I have property in Central Florida and live near you, so I might be able to give you some insight about owning properties there. It's pretty different than CA for sure.

@Fletcher Caulk, do you know if the rent is at market? Rents have been increasing lately and I would expect them to continue to do well due to Google, Silicon beach nearby and the great schools in Culver City.  They are building office buildings like crazy in Playa Vista and people will be working there and needing a place to live. 

Anyhow, just a thought about the potential rent increases you may be able to get depending on what your rent is now.

Thanks @Steve Vaughan, I appreciate you sharing your experience with a similar issue.

@Kim Meredith Hampton I guess my issue with giving the thirty days notice to vacate is that I'm worried that it will turn into an eviction, which is messy and expensive. Any thoughts on how to avoid that?