Anyone want to rent from me a two bedroom pad in LA in the midst of the action?

[Torie]

It's available.

[Torie]

Torie, great place. The decorating and landscaping is top notch.

My concern with this and many Craigslist ads is that you are doing a lot of potential thieves leg work for them. Like there is an address and when the place will be presumably vacant, unless your manager will be occupying.

That is why God invented insurance. If I worried about such things, I would go insane. Thanks for the comments. It is a grand place. Some young guy or couple who has landed a well paying job in Hollywood usually rents the place - and stays until like the couple decamping, they buy a home.

[Torie]

Random question, Torie. How much do you think a single family home, about 1,900-2,000 sq feet, in a place like Laguna Niguel or Mission Viejo rent for? Less than this place?

Yes, probably $2,000 to $2,500 I would guess, unless well, it has little amenities like my little pad does - you know the view, the pool, the spa, the single loaded street and the like, then for that size maybe $2,750.  My home might rent for $3,500, but then it is 2,600 square feet and some interior upgrades that you have not seen, like lighting design, and hardwood floors, and molding everywhere and such. MV would be a tad cheaper than LN, maybe more than a tad unless in the chicer sections.

Nothing in either place though has what Anglos like to call charm however. You know, old and such.

[Torie]

Thanks. I was trying to figure out rent in Socal compared to the Bay Area, specifically Pleasanton. I feel your city or MV are a good proxy.

Your place would be good for young urban professionals, I think.

That 2,100 square foot pad that I bought in Silverlake with the lake view and such, and fixed up, rents for $4,000 a month by the way. That is where I plan to get laid early and often by the young and the restless in the near future! 

[Torie]

Dumb question. What is it about CA/NY that makes people willing to pay these exorbitant prices for housing? Supply/demand obviously, but presumably, you're getting something for all that money. The demand has to come from somewhere. I've been to LA and New York several times, and don't see what's so amazing that would make anybody would choose to live in either given the cost.

In the case of the pad that I am hawking, the answer is:  Hollywood!  There are a lot of high paying jobs around for talented young folks who aren't into buying a home in a hurry.  Most of my tenants have real talent come to think of it. It's a niche market.

[Torie]

Dumb question. What is it about CA/NY that makes people willing to pay these exorbitant prices for housing? Supply/demand obviously, but presumably, you're getting something for all that money. The demand has to come from somewhere. I've been to LA and New York several times, and don't see what's so amazing that would make anybody would choose to live in either given the cost.

Jobs tend to be higher paying, schools at least here on Long Island tend to be among the best in the country, so quality of education is key.

I bet the school district for this pad is not so good. Torie can give you a better idea. Though this sort of place isn't comparable to Long Island. That would be the places like Laguna Niguel or Mission Viejo like we were talking about earlier, or inland areas like La Canada Flintridge, Arcadia, Thousand Oaks etc.

No, not so good for this pad in Los Feliz. If in the John Marshall High School district, maybe about average or a bit below by national standards (in other words, basically horrible). But for the Moreno house, the elementary school there is one of the two or three best in the city, and majority Anglo, and the rest mostly Asian now, and folks fight to get in it.

[Torie]

Moreno Valley?

No, sbane. The one in Silverlake on Moreno Drive. Do you see me living in Moreno Valley? 

[Torie]

Do quoted rates (such as this appartment) exclude all other associated expenses in the U.S.?

Generally yes. The tenant pays the utilities. However, where as here the units are not separately metered for water, I pay the water bill.

[Torie]

HOA fees are sometimes paid for, sometimes not. Though I doubt this neighborhood will have one. Utilities are usually your own expense.

HOA fees are almost always paid for by the Landlord, even if a single family home. I pay those for my desert houses. Hey, my La Quinta house (aka "the palace") with that pool is available too! 

[Torie]

HOA fees are sometimes paid for, sometimes not. Though I doubt this neighborhood will have one. Utilities are usually your own expense.

OK. Considering that fact and the exchange rate...I live for 7 months with all expenses included for one month's rent in Torie's place without.

Obviously we're talking about different worlds as far as the appartment is concerned....but still wow

How many square feet is your pad, Franzl? Is this in Europe or in that little "benighted" sliver of downstate Illinois?  If in Munich, I thought that town was pretty expensive.

[Torie]

Moreno Valley?

No, sbane. The one in Silverlake on Moreno Drive. Do you see me living in Moreno Valley? 

Yeah I was pretty damn confused.

HOA fees are sometimes paid for, sometimes not. Though I doubt this neighborhood will have one. Utilities are usually your own expense.

HOA fees are almost always paid for by the Landlord, even if a single family home. I pay those for my desert houses. Hey, my La Quinta house (aka "the palace") with that pool is available too! 

I see. Well my parents do pay the HOA for their rented out Pleasanton house. The only other person I know who rents out properties is my uncle but he only has houses in sh**tty neighborhoods all over America. He makes sure none of them have HOA's.

Oh, and how much is the La quinta house listed for? Sq footage?

It depends on whether it is a seasonal or year round rental. This one comes furnished, so just come as you are.  Do you like the pool that I designed? 

[Torie]

Damn that pool looks nice. Though get rid of that unnatural grass. Golfers should move to Kentucky or something. The palm trees (assuming it's the California fan palm) can stay though.

And damn that costs a lot. Though if some snow birds just rent it for half the year it makes sense. Are there any jobs in the area that can sustain that sort of rent?

The grass is natural sbane. I don't do astroturf! Please!   Oh, you mean not native. Whatever, I like it. The palms on the golf course are date palms. It used to be a date palm grove, and many were kept when the golf course was designed.

No, very few jobs are around to sustain that kind of rent, although it was rented to a local lawyer for two years. You bring your money with you to the desert.

The rocks by the way are natural, each weighing thousands of pounds (the larger ones at least). They had to be lifting in and down and inserted by a crane two stories high, sitting on the empty lots on either side of the home at the time. It was fortunate they were empty, or an even larger crane would be needed to lift them over the house!  But I loved the look and just "knew" that it "had" to be that way. I could just "see" it with my mind's eye.

[Torie]

Missouri is cheap. A 1bd apartment in the Nashville area will run you about $500-600.

Same in Missouri.  Remember we are slumlords, not ordinary landlords.  We even have henchmen.

The "henchmen" do what? Take the exterior doors off the units if the rent is not paid? 

[Torie]

The "henchmen" do what? Take the exterior doors off the units if the rent is not paid?  

Haha, yes, that sort of thing.  But it rarely comes to that - first they just scare people.  They are kind of frightening and unpleasant.

Do you plan to continue to employ them after your parents assume room temperature?  Just curious. I kind of wish I were a tenant in one of your parents' hovels. I'd bankrupt them.   But then, I doubt that they would rent to a lawyer.

[Torie]

Oh, they are errand boys following the law. You made them seem, well  ... I guess I should have known better!