Anyone doing short term or midterm rentals in Fullerton?

Question

I'm recently looking to buy a SFR in Fullerton. I heard home owners need to apply for the permit to do short term rentals and the city is not issuing any licenses. I spoke to an agent who is helping clients manage short term rentals. She said the licenses are running out but still can apply for it. She charges 20% of annual rent as property management fee. Midterm rent over 30 days do not require a permit though. Does anyone run a STR or MTR in the area. Please share your experience. Also do I need to hire a property management company or can I start learning it on my own. Thank you.

Kiera Underwood · Answer

@Renee Ren Curious if you're committed to staying in a market where regulation is so tough or if you're open to areas that might not restrict you as much? From a management standpoint I always default to professionals. I am competent, but I don't have the legal knowledge to feel sufficiently protected. That's where I lean on a team that has obviously done their legal homework. Especially I California I would be over protecting myself. I opt to position for short term in OKC where it's VERY landlord friendly and STR returns are still insane. 2-3x the cash flow vs long term rentals. There's a duplex I'm working on now that's newer construction A class for 420k. With one unit str and one unit LTR it'll cash flow $2700 a month if I pay cash and $700 a month if I'm paying a 7% interest rate. All of that said this is a low and slow appreciating market, so just a totally different game vs CA.

Drew Sygit · Answer

Why would you trust an agent about this when it's so easy to call the city and verify for yourself or look on the city website?

Nick Robinson · Answer

@Renee RenI agree with @Michael Baum why would you pick an area that actively is trying to cut down on STRs? I would be very careful jumping into the STR market right now. Bookings have taken a major hit. To have a successful STR you need to have something that makes your property standout. I would also want my property to CF as a long-term rental as well which pretty much knocks out everything in CA. The market is slowing down and considering we have a lot of headwinds hitting the housing market I would be careful jumping into something speculative.

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @Renee Ren, why would you put yourself in a market like that? It seems like it is moving away from allowing STRs completely. You might want to look at another area that won't be so difficult to make work.

Regarding the self management, that is what we all do here! :) You can just use the apps for VRBO and AirBNB. It is pretty easy once you have all your systems in place. Get a good cleaner who will be your boots on the ground and a handy person to take care of immediate needs. Keep up on the maintenance and you should be good to go.

Anyone doing short term or midterm rentals in Fullerton?

Most Popular Reply