All Forum Posts by: Eric Dowling

@Caleche Ryder always happy to chat!

@Mike R. I agree with the surrounding areas. I'm keen on Cathedral City since it is right next to Palm Springs, so we get the reputation and location bump year round. The festivals are great, but if they go away it won't impact our business. 

I'm also a fan of going farther down in the valley for the right place. A 5+ bedroom anywhere in the valley will do very well.

I don't see a moratorium having any impact on the market as far as prices. Although it is a tourist destination, the majority of home sales are still owner occupants. And as far as competition goes i have seen my competition double and I my numbers still grow every year. There is plenty of demand out there and I encourage people to buy vacation rentals in my neighborhood.

@Mike R. @John Lee I have a vacation rental in Cathedral City that does similar numbers as your big bear place and are in for 230k. After a couple years we are over 60k gross on over 200 days rented. Palm Springs mid century's do very well. It is the most sought after property (which the price tag reflects as well). I think the overal ROI will rival your big bear place.

As far as what renters are looking for in my opinion you have to have a pool. A place with out a pool will not rent in the summer. A place with a pool rents out every weekend in the summer. 

The city council vote is concerning and something to consider, but it is such a big part of the economy out there, I don't personally see vacation rentals going away.

John is pretty right on with the high season, but I would not really call summer slow, since we rent out every weekend in the 110 degree heat (not sure why any one goes there this time of year!) My occupancy rate is 58%, and I use 50% when analyzing new properties, since the first year is the slowest building up reviews and repeat guests.

@Kris Kahrs there are a few options for you in this situation. First it looks like you are taking advantage of prop 60 so you can keep those low property taxes which is great! Next to defer the capital gains tax on almost 400k you can do a number of things. What I have been using with clients with substantial equity is the deferred sales trust. 

I would be happy to send you a link to some info, but to make it as simple as possible: your proceeds from the sale go into a trust, rather than you directly and it defers the taxes until you pull the money out. If you set it up right and invest the money from the trust you end up never paying or paying substantially less of  the capital gains.

@Roger Vi that is a great park, I go there a lot. There are lots of places to sit when it is not the weekend. Would be able to find some shade as well. I would be interested to meet up there since I will have my son with me.

@Clifton Sheng  I have a place in Cathedral City that does very well. I'm a big fan of being as close to Palm Springs as I can. We still do very well on Coachella), but we do well the rest of the year too and just look as Coachella as a bonus. That way  If Coachella gets cancelled our business will not be affected.

Dont hesitate to reach out, I love talking vacation rentals!

@Eli Kallison I would personally try to find a way to keep it, but that is coming from a buy and hold guy. Your situation is certainly unique.

Airbnb can be great, you will want a full service property manager most likely if you want to be hands off completely. LA is currently looking into much more strict rules on vacation rentals so the future is uncertain.

It is a good time to sell if you choose that route. If you lived in the house 2 of the last 5 years you can save a significant amount on your tax bill. If not there are other ways to avoid that big tax bill on 400k equity.

You can als put money into the house now and fix it up so you don't get these capex and maintenance  items every month. It will run much more hands off at that point. 

@Geo Tan FSBO = for sale by owner. At risk of sounding like a broken record and to point to a common theme on bigger pockets: have a lawyer review everything. Things go wrong even with proffessionals in the mix, so having no one would be a big risk, even as tempting as it is to save on commission/fees.

To answer your question: You can state however many or few inspections as you want in the offer, and you can do as many or few you want during investigations regardless of what is in the offer. If that makes sense?

I did not make the hearing, I accidentally scheduled a meeting that morning so I missed it. I was meaning to reach out to see how it went!

@Geo Tan

@Pandu Chimata the Palm Springs area is a great place for vacation rentals. It is also year round as opposed to seasonal as you mentioned. I don't know other areas in SoCal that well since I focus on the Palm Springs market for short term rentals.