While enjoying a well deserved oasis of caffein and carbs this afternoon, I noticed two guys looking kinda familiar. I went over and said as much. Turns out one of them was a guy I’d met at the La Mesa Keller-Williams office a few years ago. The other guy I’d never met, but think he may have been the franchise owner.
Anywho, we started talking about San Diego real estate and how the prices have dropped in the last couple years. A surprising subject, I realize. When asked what I was doin’ these days I replied I’d headed outa Dodge about five years ago. Why? they asked. ‘Cuz I couldn’t sell San Diego real estate investment property to nice folk while still retaining my good conscience. That got their attention. The other guy said I’m too picky. If I can’t drive to it in an hour or less, I just won’t buy it.
And there it was. He’d just plainly laid out the reason his retirement will be less than it could be by a long way.
He’s putting his hopes for retirement income on 30-50 year old income properties for which he paid at least twice as much as those investing out of California have. The thing is? He knows it, yet can’t get over his need to be able to ‘drive by’ his empire. His need to have local control trumps his need for the best retirement possible. He’s a very smart guy. He’s a real estate agent specializing in home sales with much experience and expertise.
If you’re reading this and you own income property in San Diego, or places like it, say Orange County, L.A., the Bay Area (possibly the worst place to own income property in California ) or anywhere else in the country — take your equity ASAP and get outa Dodge.
If you’ve owned your properties for five years or more you’ve already lost big time. How is this not patently obvious? I’m not gonna go through the whole list of why just about everywhere else is better these days. Know that buying new properties in healthy vibrant regions for 25-50% of what your stuff is worth but with the same income — is a lot better. In fact I’ll be as plain as your embarrassing great-uncle used to be. You’re costing yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars — a million or three if it’s over the next 15 years or more. You won’t be able to drive by it — get over it.
Think of it this way. Every mile you drive back and forth to see your local properties cost you a thousand bucks. Now, do the math on that one. It’s time to get outa Dodge. Time is not your friend.
Is Captain Obvious stalking us again?
Related posts:
- Your Income Property Is High Priced? Here Are Some Questions For You
- How To Get Your San Diego Real Estate Equity Growing Again — Get Outa Dodge Now
- San Diego Real Estate Investors — How’s That Income Property Workin’ For Ya So Far?
- San Diego Income Property Owners: Are You Investing For Growth?
- Walking the Talk: BawldGuy Gets You Outa Dodge With Minimum $10,000 Discount
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Funny,
I was talking to a friend/realtor about this last week. Has Florida come to that place yet? We have seen residential rents go down, vacancies go up and property values only drop 10-15%. Virtually impossible to get to a positive cash flow situation without putting down 50% or more.
David — Florida has it’s own set of problems. I wouldn’t invest there, nor to I advise anyone to do so. As you suggest, the income to value ratio us just too skewed. It’s definitely a ‘no go’ in my view.