The Accidental Pandemic Landlords

Did a lot of people make pandemic house purchases? Yes. Did some of them overpay? If you call bidding $560k over asking overpaying, then yes. Are many of them happy? For those who are locked into the most ridiculous interest rates ever and are not renting anymore, heck yes. 

Do some of these people regret their purchases? Of course. I personally don't know of anyone in this boat, but some are feeling remorse because they reacted in a panic. And some of these new homeowners are wanting to move, relocate, etc. But rather than give up the house and their stupidly low mortgage lock, they are opting to rent out their homes while the rental market is hot. They're becoming accidental landlords, and as a result, discovering the joys of landlord tax writeoffs. 

Good News for Investors

Those who own multiple homes and investment properties have some good news coming. With housing prices high and more or less remaining high (even with micro ups and downs), more people will remain renters. Many who have thought of buying will continue to rent longer.  And more renters means more demand for rental housing. Landlords can expect to benefit from this.

A client of mine was planning on selling to buy a larger home. I ran some numbers and it turns out she would have pretty good cash flow on her current home since rents have gone up a lot in her neighborhood. And her property isn't under rent control laws. Her lender has increased her borrowing amount based on this potential income. She is now going to keep this property, rent it out, and buy her larger dream home. This is when real estate gets fun.

Go Ahead, Raise the Rent

Landlords out there, you know that many of the buildings in DTLA are free of rent control, right? Just wanted to make sure. Buildings that were converted into condominiums are not subject to rent control laws. This is one of the reasons why those who are looking to buy an investment property love downtown. For in-depth information on rent control: http://lahd.lacity.org/lahdinternet/rentstabilization/tabid/247/default.aspx