I can tell you with first-hand experience as a small landlord with 2-3 rental properties in California for the last 10 years that the most crucial factor is to try to get a good on-time paying tenant who cares and upkeeps the house. But once you run into a bad tenant like i just did in Sacramento, who didn't pay rent or utilities and use the California legal system protection for renters to drag the case by rescheduling and requesting extension on trial hearings, filing bankruptcy, and with the slow moving and big backlog of the Court system, any new filing will take 3-4 weeks for the court to look at and then when the tenant reschedule the trial hearing, they will have another month, and that can goes on for several months before you even get to see a judge for a hearing. So even at the "easiest" non-payment at-fault eviction, the case would take additional 4-6 months with the court (after they stop paying rents for months and you have to give them 30-60-90 days of notice to fix the problem) to get resolved. I have a property management company and their attorney to take care of my eviction case, but it still costs me 9 months of lost rents because of California legal system favoring the deadbeat tenants.. But then collection is almost impossible with the small court claim as they don't have anything to pay while causing so much damages to the property. I can't wait to sell my rental properties to get out of being a landlord in California fast enough.
There are also just lifestyle questions, though. Like, how much stress does it cause in your life wondering if and when the government of California is going to seize your property?
Definitely something to consider. I don't think it's very likely that the state will outright seize private property, control it more through worthless regulations though, for sure.
An eviction in California in just 6 weeks, that is very very optimistic and assumes either a very cooperative tenant (in an eviction proceeding?) or a very dumb tenant. Many tenants will get a legal aid attorney who will move for a trial. After using various tactics to delay an already long and arduous legal process, during which the landlord is paying an attorney significant legal fees, they'll be lucking to get the tenant out in less than 2 years, and to accomplish that they may have to pay the tenant big bucks to leave.. Much better to be a large landlord in California with hundreds of units over which to spread the risk and the resources to hire excellent legal representation. In California, you'll need those lawyers.
Short answer - No! I have been doing it for the past few decades and the juice is no longer worth the squeeze and it’s getting worse. It’s all about which rent control laws govern you.
I have owned a duplex in Southern California since the mid 80's. The city and county where I own don't have any crazy laws at this time and my property tax rate is lower than where I live now. I moved out of CA in the early 2000's. I am not selling any time soon.
I can tell you with first-hand experience as a small landlord with 2-3 rental properties in California for the last 10 years that the most crucial factor is to try to get a good on-time paying tenant who cares and upkeeps the house. But once you run into a bad tenant like i just did in Sacramento, who didn't pay rent or utilities and use the California legal system protection for renters to drag the case by rescheduling and requesting extension on trial hearings, filing bankruptcy, and with the slow moving and big backlog of the Court system, any new filing will take 3-4 weeks for the court to look at and then when the tenant reschedule the trial hearing, they will have another month, and that can goes on for several months before you even get to see a judge for a hearing.
So even at the "easiest" non-payment at-fault eviction, the case would take additional 4-6 months with the court (after they stop paying rents for months and you have to give them 30-60-90 days of notice to fix the problem) to get resolved. I have a property management company and their attorney to take care of my eviction case, but it still costs me 9 months of lost rents because of California legal system favoring the deadbeat tenants.. But then collection is almost impossible with the small court claim as they don't have anything to pay while causing so much damages to the property. I can't wait to sell my rental properties to get out of being a landlord in California fast enough.
There are also just lifestyle questions, though. Like, how much stress does it cause in your life wondering if and when the government of California is going to seize your property?
Definitely something to consider. I don't think it's very likely that the state will outright seize private property, control it more through worthless regulations though, for sure.
An eviction in California in just 6 weeks, that is very very optimistic and assumes either a very cooperative tenant (in an eviction proceeding?) or a very dumb tenant. Many tenants will get a legal aid attorney who will move for a trial. After using various tactics to delay an already long and arduous legal process, during which the landlord is paying an attorney significant legal fees, they'll be lucking to get the tenant out in less than 2 years, and to accomplish that they may have to pay the tenant big bucks to leave.. Much better to be a large landlord in California with hundreds of units over which to spread the risk and the resources to hire excellent legal representation. In California, you'll need those lawyers.
Short answer - No! I have been doing it for the past few decades and the juice is no longer worth the squeeze and it’s getting worse. It’s all about which rent control laws govern you.
I have owned a duplex in Southern California since the mid 80's. The city and county where I own don't have any crazy laws at this time and my property tax rate is lower than where I live now. I moved out of CA in the early 2000's. I am not selling any time soon.
Good for you!
Been a landlord here for 12 years. It has been a great experience - no issues. Don't believe all the negative hype.
Whole country sucks actually