There is a lot of uncertainty in our world today. With the outbreak and rapid spread of Coronavirus, the entire world economy has all but shut down. Due to the shelter-in-place order in California, the real estate sales market has basically ground to a halt. Sellers are pulling their properties off the market or changing them to a hold status. Open houses are prohibited, making it very difficult for buyers to view properties they are interested in. Some of the worst case projections indicate that the next few months could show a massive correction to the real estate market. So eve ..read more

2020 is a big year for legislative changes affecting landlords and tenants. In fact, with the passing of statewide rent control, it may be one of the most significant legislative years yet. Staying up to date and compliant with new laws is one of the most important responsibilities of a landlord. Failure to do so can result in unnecessary legal exposure. Here are 11 new laws that we have identified as being significant to California landlords in 2020 ..read more

When a lease is two months away from expiring, you should start thinking about whether or not you should to raise the rent. Deciding how much the new rent should be is always a hard call to make. Making this decision is walking a fine line between leaving money on the table and raising the rent so much that the tenant leaves ..read more

California has passed statewide rent control this month (AB 1482), ignoring the will of the people who voted 62% to 38% against a different piece of rent control legislation (Proposition 10) just under a year ago in November of 2018. While Prop 10 sought to repeal Costa-Hawkins, which would have allowed individual cities in California to enact their own forms of rent control, the AB 1482 form of rent control creates a just cause requirement for tenancy terminations and an annual cap on rent increases. This law was signed by Governor Newsom on October 8, 2019 and goes into effect o ..read more

Hiring a property management company to deal with your rental can feel like a major weight has lifted from your shoulders. No longer are you the one who has to take those tenant phone calls, deal with maintenance issues, show your vacant property or be the point of contact. This was the best financial decision you've made in a long time! This feeling of freedom is wonderful and one of the main reasons many landlords hire a property manager to begin with. They just don't want to deal with that pesky rental anymore! If you are a landlord that has hired a property management company ..read more

Today, the Associated Press, came out with an unsurprising story. The headline reads, "Marijuana use by US college students up, highest in 35 years." According to the story, nearly half of full-time college students admitted to smoking marijuana in the past year. There are currently 11 states in the union that have fully legalized recreational marijuana. Due to these policy changes many landlords will receive (if they have not already) a requests from tenants to use marijuana in their rental properties. Here are some thoughts on this predicament ..read more

If you've done a Google search for this question or a similar one, you've probably encountered tons of contradictory information. The Bigger Pockets forums and other investor networking sites are full of self-managing owners proclaiming their horrible experiences with property managers and the waste of money that they are. You can also find the self-managing landlord turned property manager promoter telling of their horror stories when they tried to do it themselves. They would never go back to self-managing based on their experience with a great property manager and the fees they ..read more

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The time has come for your tenant to move out. They've been great, but they have decided to leave the cool air of Southern California to pursue job opportunities elsewhere. Many landlords forget that the day a tenant moves out, a clock starts counting down. That "clock" is called the 21 day disposition, and failure to abide by it can result in heavy legal fines ..read more

Your tenant is moving out, and you notice that the carpet you just put in is trashed. It looks like they ran a doggy daycare in your living room! But don't worry, their security deposit will cover it... right? Well, when it comes time to withhold money from a security deposit many tenants threaten to sue. This situation is not helped by the fact that many small claims court judges are anti-landlord. The result is a large number of unprepared owners losing in court. Let's face it, we live in one of the most litigious states, and California law is written in favor of tenants. The m ..read more