I have taken some concrete steps towards renting my house.<\/p>\n
First, today I asked somebody to please email me the phone number of the Housing Office on the marine base. Supposedly marines make good tenants: they get a living allowance so rent is always on time; and also the marine base holds them accountable for the house. If there is any damage the marine base will pay and the marine gets in trouble (supposedly).<\/p>\n
I talked to somebody over at First Choice Management, a local property management company. (They took over Glen Realty’s property management division.) After three phone calls, I finally reached Robin and got the skinny on How to be a Landlord: or Dear God, This is Too Stressful.<\/p>\n
They have two management options.<\/p>\n
Then I asked the wrong question. I asked, “So, how’s business these days?”<\/p>\n
Robin answered the fateful, “The rental market is very slow at the moment.”<\/p>\n
Gulp. I investigated further, “How many rentals do you have right now?”<\/p>\n
She said, “I have ten 3 bed\/2 baths ranging from $750 to $1150. Most have been sitting for a while. The lowest one’s in Joshua Tree on Jadeite and the highest one is a brand-new 1,600 square foot home in Sky Harbor. I have one on La Mirada for $1050, that has been vacant for 3-4 months.”<\/p>\n
Gulp. “How about the real estate market – that’s slow too, right?”<\/p>\n
“Yes, it’s slow.”<\/p>\n
“You mean I get to choose between very slow and slow?”<\/p>\n
“Ha, ha, I like the way you put that.”<\/p>\n
Gulp.<\/p>\n
Do I use a property management company? Or do I just advertise with the military myself? She says that if I listed at $950, I would be the lowest 3bed\/2bath (except for the house on Jadeite which is on a dirt road in Joshua Tree) and that the house should rent pretty quickly. But that means $475 to the company and then again $95 to them every month. Since my mortgage is $1150, I would coming out red $295 every month.<\/p>\n
Then again, if I were doing it myself, I would have the headache of learning all the lease stuff myself, the calls from the tenant for repairs, and still<\/em> be losing $200 every month.<\/p>\n see what I mean? a choice between not good and worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have taken some concrete steps towards renting my house. First, today I asked somebody to please email me the phone number of the Housing Office on the marine base. Supposedly marines make good tenants: they get a living allowance … Continue reading