All Forum Posts by: Maria D'Aura

Rents in Santa Clara, Silicon Valley and South Bay are undeniably on the decline. I was just looking at rental listings last night in Mountain View out of curiosity. Although I expected to see a decline it surprised me just how much it has declined. I noticed a few months ago many vacancy signs out, something I had not seen in years. Now there are move-in incentives, low deposits, offers of as much as 2 months free rent even.

Last year all the new apartment developments in the area gave me cause for concern. With the sheer volume of new rental apartments I was concerned that IF the rental market took a turn I would not be able to get a tenant at my current rental rate in my older condo. And... that turn came faster than I imagined. I followed my gut instinct and sold in February with escrow closing just before SIP began. Lucky timing. I 1031 my single condo into a 4 unit in the Central Valley. There was a $5K difference from the sale price to the purchase price, but the rental income increased almost 2.5x. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

I held that Mountain View condo for appreciation. It never really made sense to hold it for cashflow. Maybe 10 years from now it would have seen (another) huge appreciation, who knows, but my goals have changed and I'm looking for cashflow now. I have another condo in the tri-valley I'm debating on making the same move with, but there are other considerations in play on this one. 

Rivermark is a great location, but there are a lot of rentals in that area. How long can you afford to leave it vacant and hang on for the market to head back to a favorable direction? How low can you go on the rent before it's costing you out of pocket every month to hang onto it? Just some things to consider.

Originally posted by @Sid Naik:

Thanks all for the great comments . Appreciate it .

This is my 4th week trying to rent my condo. The condo is top notch , trust me on this , there is nothing wrong in product ( location, amenities ,age all ticked off ) .the neighboring huge apartment complex has reduced rents by 25% and on top of that 1 month rent free . This is in one of the best area in santa clara ( Rivermark) .If you look at online stats there is realignment where rents are dropping in high demand expensive areas and increasing in areas like livermore . If a property comes to sell in Santa clara it will be priced on the prevailing rents and cap rate . From what Jonathan is saying people may bid up this price so it won't be strictly based of cap rate and NOI . Kind of hard to understand the logic but I am a newbie in MF so can't comment much on it . However rent drop is nothing i have seen in Santa clara for the last 10 years and is real .

Thanks for your reply. Curious why you think duplex is the way to go?

Originally posted by @Brian Garlington:

@Maria D'Aura   2% Rule Property can certainly be found in Cleveland. You really need to look carefully. My STRONG advice would be to look for a duplex.....not a triplex or fourplex.....but a duplex in a C Neighborhood in Cleveland. Also,....and if you can do this it will be a cherry on top for guaranteed rent...Put a Section 8 Tenant in the property. As other posters have said, you may initially need to put in some repairs for deferred maintenance, but once it gets going it gets going :-)

You should reach out to @David Leggett  about this IF YOU ARE SERIOUS. He is on the ground in Cleveland, he's a Realtor and he actually helped place tenants in a number of my rentals out there. 

@David Leggett

I was searching for info on Holly Hills area and saw your post. I'm going to send you a private message. 


Originally posted by @Max Householder:

Holly Hills is a nice area, very stable, but also a little more expensive as a result. North of Bates and East of S. Grand and especially the other side of I-55 can get a little sketchy, but everything from Holly Hills and west is very solid.

There are R/R tracks that run north-south through Carondolet Park and then between Arendes Dr. and Dewey Ave. In my experience viewing properties in this area in the past and watching the market some, the few blocks between Bates, S. Grand, and those R/R tracks are generally lower cost and slightly less desirable than "Holly Hills proper" which is the blocks due north of Carondolet Park between Leona and Arendes. Just FYI, sometimes you'll see listings in the first area I described as Holly Hills, but it's more like Holly Hills addition/adjacent and won't get a premium attached to price. Maybe that's good as you get in cheaper, but maybe not for resale. Just something to be aware of, those blocks off S. Grand are still pretty nice and Royal Kebab is really good :)

Originally posted by @Constance Grandelli:

Hi Maria,

In my experience 1% is achievable. I did manage to buy & rehab a property, then rent it for more than 1%.  I've begun to change my way of thinking:  how much do I have in it, or how much is the mortgage? What is the acceptable "profit margin" to me?  Other things to consider: Can the rents be increased?  What type of appreciation is it? Is it "hackable"?  Often there are more things to be considered than just the numbers.  Haven't seen any unicorns.  :0)

Originally posted by @Alex Keathley:

@Maria D'Aura

Just have the title company draw up a marital waiver that the spouse who is not wanting to be on deed signs. Your agent is correct, if you are not buying in an LLC in the state of MO, your spouse must be on the deed or must have a marital waiver. It's very common for couples that be fully divorced and one of them wants a new house. The marital waiver is a way around it. The waiver basically states the spouse will have not ownership interest in the property. Costs maybe $50 and your title company should be able to mail or fax it to you. Hope this helps! Welcome to the Show Me State!! 👍🏻👍🏻