Unless you are renting for a ridiculously priced, nicely maintained property in a great location that is under rent control, it's not easy to be a renter these days. From Venice to Mid City to Highland Park and Downtown, rents have been steadily increasing and are expected to keep rising in 2015, and up to 8.2% by 2016, according to the USC Casden Multifamily Forecast.
This tells us that it's good to be a landlord. And downtown has no rent control on most of its buildings, which makes it even more appealing. Explains why so many people have investment properties in DTLA--the renters are essentially paying for their landlord's mortgage.