Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2012 · 309 posts · 18 votes
Hey guys!
We are considering a purchase of a 3-bedroom SFR in a good school district. I just checked Zillow and it had 2 new "FOR RENT" listings placed in this particular area/subdivision in the past few days, very similar to our property. How many "FOR RENT" properties you think is ok next to your property?
I wouldn't worry about 2. That's nothing. I just closed on a house and the house next door has a for rent sign on the front lawn and the house across the street is a rental. I got my house leased to a well qualified tenant in less than 2 weeks.
I once attended a seminar during the good ole' boom days and there was a company out of Denver, Mile High something or other, selling a development of duplexes and I believe offering management services. There were planning on building maybe 100 duplexes and there were a few hundred people in attendance to hear the sales pitch. (This is back in my 'attend every seminar' days.) These idiots... sorry, future real estate millionaires, were running to the back of the room to put their deposit down and secure themselves one of these fine properties.
I remember sitting there thinking, "If I bought one of those, I'd put my 'For Rent' sign out front, and so would every single other owner." I could just imagine some poor tenant prospect driving down the street and every single property had a 'For Rent' sign on the front lawn! I don't know if that development ever got built, but if it did, I bet it looked like ground zero of the foreclosure crisis.
2 is nothing to worry about. Keep your eye on them. See how long it takes to lease them up. Actually, I'd call up and see if I could get an appointment to go check them out. Find out what kind of condition they are in, do they allow pets, what are they asking, what is the deposit, are any utilities included. How do they compare to your rental?
If you start seeing people in gorilla suits standing on the corner with a sign stating something like "Free Flat Screen TV with Lease!" or "2 Months Free Rent" as I saw in Vegas back in 2005, that is the kind of market you want to avoid buying rentals in.
Got it. This property is not in Vegas, but i am VERY familiar with the "2 weeks free rent" and other ads to attract a tenant. And then file an eviction :(
@Aaron Mazzrillo - The Mile High deal - if it's the same outfit I'm thinking of, it was a Ponzi scheme and they sent the principals to the big house. Don't think even one duplex got built.
@Aaron Mazzrillo - The Mile High deal - if it's the same outfit I'm thinking of, it was a Ponzi scheme and they sent the principals to the big house. Don't think even one duplex got built.
Not surprised. It was a big 'to-do' they put on at a local hotel. I don't recall going there for that event, but I was walking by the ball room and they had the good looking crowd crowd working the door and cheering them on so I thought I'd stop in to see what all the fuss was about. My #1 rule of seminars is that if there are pictures of estates, expensive cars, or blue water (pool or ocean) being displayed on a screen in front of the room, someone is going to get excited and eventually take a big loss. They had all that going on.