So, I know it has been a long time since I have done an update. I sincerely apologize. The last few months have been very exciting. I will try to do a "catch-up" update. Several significant one-time and ongoing occurences have taken place recently that are significantly impacting the rental market here in Santa Clarita. Let's take a look at a few:
Ok, that should keep us busy for a bit. Remember, I state some "facts" and some opinions. I put facts in quotes, because statistics are extremely susceptible to manipulation and are often cited as fact. I will try to deliver to you only relevant statistics and ones that I believe hold true. Remember, we are talking about Santa Clarita, CA in particular. It may be vastly different just a few miles away. (It is totally different in Lancaster/Palmdale, CA.) Let's break the above bullet points down even further:
"Positive and Negative Propaganda Regarding the Resale and Rental markets". This is referring to your garden variety newspaper, Yahoo!, Google, etc... "news". I love that they call it news. We all know what it is, so let's call it what it is. Sales. Take a moment to read some of these and then ask yourself, "What expertise does this writer have in the field they are writing about?". Probably little to none. They were probably hired because they know how to write, not because they know the rental market. This propaganda has driven a popular perception that the rental markets everywhere are going up at an alarming rate. Not true. We have seen a trend in Santa Clarita that rent prices are actually going sideways and sometimes even down a bit year over year from January 2007 to January 2008. THE RENTAL MARKET REMAINS STRONG IN SANTA CLARITA, BUT NOT AS STRONG AS THE POPULAR PERCEPTION.
"Extreme Volatility in Interest Rates, Terms, and Qualifications for Home Loans" AND "Difficulty in Obtaining Investor Loans for Residential Property". I am grouping these together because they are having a similar effect. Both types of home buyers - investors and those who intend to occupy the home - are having difficulty obtaining loans. Of course, this isn't new, but it is still sharply affecting the resale and rental markets. "BUT JOHN, SHOULDN'T THAT DRIVE THE RENTS UP?" Not necessarily. You have to take into account the number of sellers who are placing there homes for rent as an alternative to selling. The current rental inventory seems to be enough supply for the demand. But the flip-side is also true. Although there is a larger inventory overall, there are more renters overall. Right now, it seems to be in balance. Rents are not moving very much.
"Sharp Drop in Quality of Rental Applications". This one is something that it seems not a lot of people are thinking about. We are seeing a significant percentage of our applicants (We will see over 300 applications this year) with poor credit (sub 600) and mortgage defaults. We are telling more applicants that they are not approved than we have in the past. Where do they go to rent? They go to one of two likely places. 1) Homeowners who are trying the renting game on their own and don't know how to screen tenants properly or 2) apartments. This may be why the news media is reporting that rents are going up. Apartments can "spread the risk" and take lower quality applicants. This allows them to charge a higher rent. Typically the media will call apartment complexes to compile rental data. Just speculation, I haven't done the research.
"Extreme Number of Foreclosures". This is a big one. There are a lot of people moving these days. The supply is there, but the turnover is fast. The foreclosures are hitting from two sides. One is the owner/occupant who is losing their home. The other is the owner/investor who is losing the investment property. Both result in someone moving.
So, here is what we are seeing. The number of rentals is going up. The number of renters is going up. They currently seem balanced. The quality of applications is going down. Buyers are still struggling to buy. Investors are still struggling to buy. Foreclosure are up. Infalation is probably on the rise which means rates will probably go up. Resale prices are dropping. We are in a recession (debatedly).
I hope you enjoyed this. I really do not intend to sound negative. I think this market presents an unbelievable opportunity for those who are willing to swim upstream, against the flow. But this is not the place to discuss that. Perhaps I will do another post about that very issue. For now, I gotta get to work. There are lot of houses to be rented, applications to be processed, properties to be listed, and people to help. Let's get to it!
KIVA.ORG is a great way to give. They have combined the elements of prosper.com with microfinance.
I am so excited about finding this website. After I decided to write a post about it, I did a quick search in AR to see if anyone else was posting about it. There was one guy. ART BLANCHET. He has written multiple posts about Kiva.org. Check it out. Thank you, Art, for writing your posts.
Here is how it works, in a nutshell: You pick a business you want to make an interest free loan to and, using any credit card via paypal, loan as little as $25 to that business. That business is "mentored" by one of many microfinance organizations who helps them manage their business and repay the loan. According to Yahoo!News, they have a 99% repayment rate. (Just so you know, that is UNBELIEVABLE!) They pay you back usually in around 6 months to a year. At that point, you can re-lend the money, or withdraw it.
When I first saw that you had to use paypal, I thought Wow! That has to get expensive. Turns out, paypal likes what the folks at Kiva.org are doing and PAYPAL DOESN'T CHARGE KIVA.ORG ANYTHING TO USE THEIR SERVICE! I was blown away. So, I dug a little to see who was partnering with Kiva.org. Here is what I found.
Something else, isn't it? I thought so, too. I first read about microfinance organizations several months ago in Fast Company. They were honoring companies who had found a way to profit and help the community. One of them was a microfinance organization. Then, shortly after, while at a Dodger game with JT, he mentioned wanting to get involved in microfinance. I didn't really dig too much after that night, until I read an article on Kiva.org and decided to explore a bit.
This kind of thinking, using the internet for good, connecting people in this way,
IS GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD.
Kudos to Kiva.
We serve the owners of indiviually owned residential properties in the Santa Clarita, Antelope, and North San Fernando Valleys. If you own an investment property and don't want to manage it, call us!
Classic Property Management (Classic Real Estate Management, Inc.) is a full-service, residental property management firm (also called real estate management). We have been in business since 1993. We specialize in Santa Clarita residential real estate management, specifically, individually owned house, townhouses, condos, and apartment complexes under 16 units. We currently manage more than 100 properties for individual owners of homes, townhomes, and condos in the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valley.
We are also members of the National Association of Residential Property Managers. This is the premier professional organization in the world for residential property and real estate managers.
I joined Classic Property Management in September of 2004 as an assistant in leasing. In June of 2005, I was named manager. In October of 2006, I was named President and CEO. We now have a team of 6, and continue to grow. We grew more than 100% between June of 2005 and July of 2006, and grew more than 100% again between July of 2006 and May of 2007. MEET THE REST OF THE TEAM HERE.
NEED SOMEONE IN THE ANTELOPE VALLEY? Jon Mitchell is your guy!
At Classic Property Management, we specialize in leasing and full-service real estate management of single-family homes, condos, and townhomes that rent in the $990-$7500 per month range.
Our services are divided into two basic services:
The leasing service covers what happens from the signing of the real estate management agreement to the execution of the lease (the move-in date). Some of the items included in the leasing service include:
Full-service Real Estate Management includes the following services:
SEARCH OUR AVAILABLE PROPERTIES
There are many reasons to hire a professional property manager, even if you are a real estate professional. If you are a real estate professional and you are trying to do property management for your clients, you should read this. If you are a real estate professional and you are managing your own properties, or if you are NOT a real estate professional and you are managing your own properties, you may want to do some calculations.
THE BIGGEST REASON YOU SHOULD USE A PROFESSIONAL PROPERTY MANAGER:
If managing properties is not your primary way of earning income, you may be stealing from yourself. If you take the cost of hiring a property manager (and don't forget that the management fees are usually deductible) and calculate them into an hourly rate, and then compare that to your true hourly rate, you may find that you could actually earn more money by hiring a professional property manager (Like the good folks at Classic Property Management!). If the math works...is there a better reason?
THE REAL BIGGEST REASON YOU SHOULD USE A PROFESSIONAL PROPERTY MANAGER:
If you are managing your own properties, you may be stealing from the ones you love. Calculate the value of spending time with your kids, wife, and family and then compare it to the cost of hiring someone like Classic Property Management, is there a better reason?
MORE REASONS TO HIRE CLASSIC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT:
If you are interested in any of the above, call John Evarts at Classic Property Management TODAY!
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
Powered by the ActiveRain Real Estate Network
© 2008 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
