Rents in Socal About to go Even Higher

I wish I had bought s bunch of rentals in the last down cycle. Oh wait . I did.

I value stability with tenants. Every vacancy will cost me about $12000 all in. Including missed rents. I have been raising rents every other year since 2020 by a max of 8%. But the reason I have been raising rents more than normal is because i'm preparing for state wide rent control. Once they shove that up our ass it will be very hard to raise rents.

Smart move. Quick story. My bro's father-in-law was forced to sell a family business due to a falling out with his siblings. He was the brains behind the business, while the others just reaped from the businesses success. His share was a few million. He then started investing in rental property about 9-10 years ago. He's up to 30+ properties now. The guy is killing it. He does the same with rental increases. He increases his rent 5-10% per year. He pays off homes quickly and uses his existing assets to get more loans and keeps buying. He's frugal as fuck with his kids. I guess the good news is my bro who is barely making ends meat will be well off when he retires.

While my @ss has to save as much as possible to make sure i'm not a burden to my kids. On the contrary, I hope to have a few properties by the time I retire in 20 years. So far I have 2. Working on a 3rd, but I'm not touching the market this year.

-Wino

Good job Ed.

Real estate is the great creator of wealth. Proven. I bought my first house at 24 , a couple of years out of USC. But I didn't buy anything else for more than a decade. I thought, "why do I want to hassle with tenants? I'll just invest in the stock market earn 6-8% per year and live happy." Until the stock market crashed and I got wiped out.

Fortunately I was young enough to recover from that financial heart attack. The second time around, I pissed on the stock market and went all in on real estate. Bought a bunch of short sales. Flipped a few then started keeping them.

Its hard to find any deals right now in residential. I'm a residential guy but I bumped into a commercial property that looked like a great deal and I bought it. Its my best cash flowing property. No tenant protection by the county. They don't pay I can lock them out within 30 days. I have never had to do it but I can.

I mention this because you may want to keep your options open and look at small balance commercial properties. I target high density areas and a purchase price below $700,000. 25% down payment but it has to cash flow.

Good luck!