All Forum Posts by: Karen Margrave

I own a house in Redding, CA. It's 4600 sq. ft. on 20 acres with seasonal pond, pool, and what was previously permitted as a "gameroom/shop" with a bathroom, and kitchen, I recently was coerced to convert to a legal ADU. As part of the process, I just today, had to sign a Deed Restriction stating it would not be used as a STR. It can be LTR, but not STR.

However; the main house can be a STR, or a B&B (only difference is a food component) There's no rhyme or reason for the way Planners think!

The old adage in real estate is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION, so the question is, what is the location of the units like? Is it safe, close to schools, stores, employment center? 

What are the units themselves like, and how do they compare to the competition? How do the rents compare? What is the location population? Are rents high or low? What's the average price of a home in the area? 

 If there's an abundance of vacant rental units, you have to be the units people want to live in. 

Is there not enough demand for 2 hotels? I think senior housing would be a great idea, depending on the number of seniors in the local areas, and competition. Rehab center probably wouldn't be a good fit with your hotel next door. 

There are franchises that do STR management in many markets and can probably get you stats for the various ones they are affiliated with. Vacasa is one of them. They are part of Berkshire Hathaway. Whether or not a property cash flows varies based on how much you're putting down, financing, etc. People that say CA doesn't cash flow don't understand the many markets we have here. Even in extremely expensive markets like coastal Orange County there are properties that cash flow! It's year round beautiful weather means rentals year round. Other areas are much more seasonal. Yes homes are more expensive in the higher demand areas. But, there's also more to do year round in southern CA and areas of far northern CA (the real nor cal) The devils in the details.

It's been a long time, I know! This market has been crazy and so competitive. Things are starting to open up a little bit, and I thought it would be a good time to start the meetups back up. Let's get together, discuss the market, and see where everyone's at. Tag anyone you know of, I just grabbed the names below from previous meetup. 

Please let me know if you're coming. 

From the Hearth Menu

Let me know if you have any questions. Hope to see all of you there! 

@Christopher Deforest @Bonnie Low @Zane Zelei @Cara Murray @Justin H. @Chris Sawtelle @Alex Shea

@Matt Christensen @Christopher Deforest @Danny G. @Cynthia Hinckley @Chris Low @Tiffany Reguera @Michael Halow @Andrew Jacobsen @Morgan M. @Lana Sha @Garrett Hawthorne
@Conner Bridwell @Benjamin Goodpasture @Jordan Michaud @Tom Northrop @Vincent Rodriguez @Zach Wain @Ramon DeLeon

@Chad Anderson @Stephen Heleniak

Nobody has a crystal ball. Everyone has been waiting for the market to crash while it was still crashing in the mid 2000s. There's a saying, "all real estate is local". It's true. No matter what type of economic market we are in, there will be areas of the country that prosper and those that go belly up. Look at the jobs market in your local area. What drives it? How affected would it be by a downturn in the economy? If you're in an area where there's a huge public workforce there's a good chance it will stay strong. If you're in an area where it's all service workers, it may have problems. Are there a lot of houses on the market in your area for rent, or sale or is there high demand? 

The point is, there is no easy answer that fits every community. Watch your local market. Are prices falling on sales and rents? There may be a lot of foreclosures, we just don't know! 

Our rental market here in Redding CA is extremely tight right now, as is the market for homes for sale. We have several factors feeding that. A few years back there were hundreds of homes burned in the Carr Fire. Most of those have been rebuilt. Then there was another fire in Paradise where hundreds more people were displaced and they moved to our area. In addition there's a local ministry school that draws students from around the world, 2,000 or so, and they rent room space. 

Redding is on the northern end of the Central Valley. We have the Sacramento River that runs through the city, with hundreds of miles of trails,  Lake Shasta, Whiskeytown Lake, etc. Plus other tourist attractions such as Shasta Caverns, Castle Crags, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen (Americas mainland 2 active volcanoes) Burney Falls. In addition, there's a huge redevelopment project going on in the Downtown area. 

The STR rental market here is very active. In fact, there's currently some interesting properties for sale for such. I'm a Realtor here and see opportunities all the time. It may take some patience to find the perfect property, but there's definitely opportunities.

A deed restriction that dealt with an issue in 1953 may no longer be legal in 2021, it's basically like CC&R's. I put CC&R's on a subdivision once, it required homes to be a minimum square footage, type of construction, etc. We did put in the CC&R's a penalty if they were not adhered to, which was the HOA could correct the deficiency and lien the property for the cost. However; rarely do people put in such protections, and Cities and County's aren't going to spend their money dealing with such things. The issue could come up if the neighbor sues you, but if the use isn't illegal in the city, it's doubtful they would prevail and the restriction isn't specific enough in my opinion

You will need to check. However; typically if the owner lives in the house and rents out rooms that have fewer restrictions. You will need to check with your local planning department. Here in Redding, CA there are so many homes rented by the room, due to a local ministry school, Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. They have 3000 students and no dorms! Room rentals are a cottage industry here. 

That's great, without allowing higher density in more areas, it just makes it impossible for the larger cities to build enough units to service the growth and makes it impossible for service workers, etc. to find housing. We have to rethink housing options in America, especially on the coastal states. I'd like to see more creative shared housing designs, etc. for seniors and young people.