Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some help analyzing whether or not this deal is worth considering/pursuing. Particularly from people who are familiar with the Los Angeles & surrounding areas. This home is located in Carson, CA (north Carson) and within walking distance to Cal State Dominguez Hills.

It is a new construction 2-story home (built in 2015) -- 2200 sq ft (5300 Sq Ft Lot), 4 bed/4.5 bath, everything is as modern as it can possibly be. Every bedroom has its own bathroom making it easy to rent out rooms individually.

This is the address:

17707 Exa Ct Carson, CA 90746

Asking price is $575K but is negotiable.

What are everyone's thoughts on this deal and what do you feel the home is worth? For those familiar with the LA area - how likely is this house in this area to appreciate in value in the future? Would the rooms be fairly easy to rent out considering it's within walking distance to Cal State Dominguez Hills college, and if so what can each room be rented out for assuming utilities were to be included?

Thanks for any advise!

@Adam Ng   What are your goals?  Looking at Rentometer, it looks like the house will rent for about $2700 as a whole but if you were to rent each room out individually, you might get around $3500.   The comps are showing around 545K.  Granted this is a new home, might be more.  I am curious to hear what others have to say.

@Adam Ng  This is an interesting one. I took a few classes at Cal State Dom and it was mostly a commuter school so perhaps do more homework on those rents. My guess is $1000 per room but IDK. Carson has plans to bring Raiders and Chargers so that might help with creating more demand and appreciation. Otherwise I would expect average for LA but even average is tops nationally. That lot sold for 6k in 2003 btw..

Some random thoughts is you could double up dorm style if you are up for that. Long term this might be a winner. There seems to be good value here but this dude paid 570k June 1st...why is he selling so quick and losing money? Good luck!

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/20150519/nfls-chargers-and-raiders-complete-move-to-secure-carson-stadium-land

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

@Matt R. - there is an identical house next to it that sold for $570k, here's a picture of the two:

Pictured: Left (17707 Exa Ct - the one I'm considering) Right (17701 Exa Ct - recently sold for $570k)

Perhaps you're looking at 17701 Exa Ct. and not 17707?

According to the property history on https://www.redfin.com/CA/Carson/17707-Exa-Ct-9074... - this is the first time being on the market since the new construction of the home.

@Adam Ng Right on. Seems like a good value for new construction. Why is that home zoned for Compton High vs Carson High? Historical Side bar: The land for the city of Carson was a wedding gift to Mr. Carson when he married one of Dominguez's daughters;) Not too shabby.....

@Peggy Liu I'm not looking for cash flow. My goal is to invest for appreciation & I plan to live in one of those rooms for myself - so if I could break even or pay very little of my pocket for the monthly expenses/mortgage that would be great. I'm planning to do more than 20% down to help reduce monthly cost. 

Having one of the rooms for myself would leave 3 rooms to rent out, each having their own full bathrooms.

@Matt R. Interesting fact! Looks like Compton HS is about 1 mile closer to the house than Carson High, which might be why.

The price for the house isn't too bad considering it's a newly built single family with some nice finishes, but I grew up in the Carson area and north Carson has always been known for having a seedy element to it. Probably not the best area to invest in if it's appreciation you're after. I have a friend who bought a new town home in the area a few years ago, only to see the value decline as more riff rafts moved into the neighborhood. The only upside to the area is the possibility of the new football stadium which would be built right off the 405 freeway. But even this isn't a guarantee as it would have to win the bid against Inglewood, not to mention whether LA will finally get a football team in the first place. For the same price of 575k you can probably get a better long term investment in neighboring Torrance, which has a better job base and closer proximity to the beach areas, Redondo/Hermosa/Manhattan.

@Adam Ng That's an issue perhaps. More random thoughts....

It looks like the best house in the hood. For LA sometimes it can be better to get the cheapest house in the best hood. Otherwise sounds like a great plan and you could be living rent free in LA.

The population is expected to grow 30% by 2030 for LA, in a sense this construction will be newer for 98% of LA in 2030. The address location specifically is primary still. Maybe stadium and Compton High is rated a 1.

You could get a much better area for 575k. Good Luck!

Matt R. Thanks, I appreciate your insight and you bring up some good points too. I will consider them and continue to research my options here. There are some pretty nice homes in this neighborhood but this is without a doubt one of the most (if not the most) expensive/valuable house in the area. Perhaps that will limit/slow down appreciation. This one stood out to me primarily because every room had its own bathroom making it more convenient and easier to rent out rooms, along with the fact it's extremely close to Cal State Dominguez Hills. Also just ~30 minutes away from downtown LA and easy access to the 91, 110, 405 freeways.

Adam at this price point, for your house hacking concept you could probably get something in south Gardena( maybe south of Redondo Beach Bl, or east Torrance that would be in a neighborhood that has more to offer.  The neighborhoods around CSUDH are not teaming with students looking for rentals.  Its not a highly regarded Cal State....If you are planning on living with tenant/roommates there are language schools in Torrance that often draw foreign students. Check out that Carson neighborhood on weekend evenings to get a feel for the neighbors...a quick google scout of the street showed sally-ported porches, etc..