Have you ever wondered why there are vacant lots in Los Angeles? Blame Prop 13. Proposition 13 is an amazing law for California property-owners. Passed through CA’s referendum process in the late 1970’s, Prop 13 sets property tax at 1.25% of a property’s original purchase price and restricts increases to 2% per year (until the … Continue reading “Why there are vacant lots in Los Angeles”
Category: Real Estate Math
The state of the West Hollywood apartment market
Today I spoke with a broker who has an eight unit property in West Hollywood listed at a somewhat reasonable $187,500 / door. I say somewhat reasonable because the gross rent multiple is 15x. At a list price of $1.5MM, that means the property is generating rents of $100,000 / year. The rents are obviously … Continue reading “The state of the West Hollywood apartment market”
Adding washers and dryers to your units? Careful!
One of the best ways to add value to an apartment building is to add washers and dryers to the units. Why? Because tenants will typically pay $100-150 / month in rent in order to avoid using shared laundry rooms or, worse, going to laundromats. The math is easy: $100 / month in extra rent … Continue reading “Adding washers and dryers to your units? Careful!”
Are LA apartment building prices entering a bubble?
Recently, prices for apartment buildings in Los Angeles have been increasing rapidly. 12 months ago, you could find buildings in improving neighborhoods for less than 10x annual gross rents. Now, the range is more like 10.5-11.5x for larger buildings and up to 14x for smaller buildings. Inventory in all asset sizes is also very slim … Continue reading “Are LA apartment building prices entering a bubble?”
One of the ways a bad broker kills a seller
When you list your rent-controlled apartment building for sale, your broker will almost always include what are called “pro forma” or “market” rents in the listing published on Loopnet and the MLS. These are the rents the broker believes the units would achieve were they available on the open market. Getting them wrong is one … Continue reading “One of the ways a bad broker kills a seller”
Why you need to request estoppels on every apartment deal
Section 9C of the current California Association of Realtors Residential Income Purchase Agreement (“RIPA”) contains a check box which the buyer must check in order to require the seller to provide tenant estoppels as part of the sale process. Make sure you check it. (And if your broker doesn’t check it for you, get a … Continue reading “Why you need to request estoppels on every apartment deal”
How to determine what your mortgage payment would be
As part of WordPress, the software that runs this blog, I can see the search terms that land people on my site. Almost every day, there is someone asking Google something like “what are my payments at 5% on $400,000”. Figured I’d share with you how I estimate those. If I’m doing a spreadsheet, I … Continue reading “How to determine what your mortgage payment would be”
Hot rental market = hot market for apartment buildings
The LA Times had an interesting article a few days ago about the state of the LA rental market. Here’s the money quote: “Few new units and tight standards for home loans add to the pressure. The average monthly US rent is at an all-time high, and a 10% jump in Los Angeles County over … Continue reading “Hot rental market = hot market for apartment buildings”
How to value a building that needs work
Rarely do you come across an apartment building in Los Angeles that’s in truly mint condition. Everything’s got a few dings on it; that’s just part of buying older buildings. For those normal, everyday buildings, you figure out a range for the multiples of annual rent in the neighborhood, multiply the annual rents times the … Continue reading “How to value a building that needs work”
The Biggest Mistake LA Landlords Make
How do you feel about giving your tenants part ownership of your apartment building for free? Pretty terrible, right? If you own a rent controlled building in Los Angeles and don’t raise your rents by the amount allowed by the city each year, you’re effectively giving your tenants a stake in your building for free. … Continue reading “The Biggest Mistake LA Landlords Make”