Recent content by bikesAndHarbor

How are you drawing the Los Angeles boundary, and is 79 days a median or an average? A few very old listings could move an average sharply. Neighbourhood boundaries also matter when the sample is already limited by price.

I would not automatically leave a large discount just because the tenant is good. If costs keep rising, avoiding reasonable increases can create a much harder conversation later. But asking rent is not the same as achieved rent, so $1,305 should not be treated as guaranteed. Price out a...

Be strict about the listings used. Advertisements that have remained available may indicate prices the market has not accepted. Similar detached homes that disappear quickly are more informative, although you still may not know the final agreed rent.

That wording is exactly what I need to untangle. The listing describes it as a new-build flat, but I haven’t confirmed whether the age concern relates to the underlying building or the development phase. I’ll ask the agent directly before deciding on contingency language. I’m also going to price...

We’ve lost two offers on new-build flats in San Francisco to buyers with fewer conditions. Our agent thinks shortening the inspection window could make our next offer more competitive, but waiving inspection entirely feels reckless at $715,000. The visible condition has been decent, although the...

That range is the useful next step. Run a normal year, a turnover year and a year with weaker rent plus higher ownership costs. Then ask whether you would still buy if the condo’s value stayed flat for several years. If the answer becomes no, appreciation is doing most of the work in the thesis.

One missing fact: is the $4,632 the expected monthly gross rent, and does the $475 already include every condo-related charge? I’d also want to know whether the financing cost can change. If either the rent estimate or loan assumption is optimistic, this isn’t really a stable $475 loss.

At face value, I’d pass. Being able to fund the loss doesn’t make it productive capital. Before deciding, I’d separate vacancy allowance, management, maintenance, insurance, property tax and financing costs. A modest error across several of those could make the real shortfall meaningfully worse...

That’s fair, although there is also a danger in demanding that every long-term property produce positive cash flow immediately. The practical line for me would be whether the flat remains comfortably affordable with flat rent and a rough year, without forcing a sale. If it does, the appreciation...

I don’t think negative cash flow automatically makes it a bad purchase. Financing may be paying down principal, and a long holding period can change the picture. But I’d need to know whether the financing cost is stable and how long the owner intends to hold. A manageable $350 is very different...

First clarify how that 4.1% was calculated. Is it the difference between final list price and sale price for properties that closed in June, or today’s asking prices compared with older completed sales? Those measure different things. I’d also remove the warehouse records entirely before drawing...

At eleven months, your collected rent is $15,631, so the effective gross yield is only about 3.36% before property tax, insurance, management, maintenance or building charges. That is extremely little room for error. I’d investigate the actual property-tax and insurance figures first, then any...

One more practical point: preserve the document trail. Keep the accepted scope, access limitations, utility data supplied, questions raised, written answers and final report together. If a claimed saving affects your decision, ask for the calculation and its assumptions rather than relying on...

Fee transparency should cover more than the headline price: travel, repeat visits, additional buildings or units, equipment testing, document chasing, calls with the transaction team and report revisions can all be included or excluded. I would also ask who actually signs the findings and...

Leo’s suggestion would be to test the handoff rather than the feature list: create the same sample property journey in each setup, then record every manual re-entry, missing attachment and switch between screens. Repeat it on mobile as well. I’d also test permissions with different roles. An...