Good Areas to Buy a House and Rent it out to struggling actors/musicians/20-30s etc.??? (Los Angeles: foreclosed, renters)

[yourpaljoey]

Hey,

I'm looking to move to L.A. from the NJ/NYC area.

I want to buy a house (any where from 4 to 7 bedrooms) and rent out the bedrooms individually to actors, musicians, students, young professionals and live in it myself as well.

I can afford up to $300,000

What would be an idea neighborhood to do this in??

Not too ghetto, close to some "action" or a college etc.

Would appreciate any 411.
Thanks.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by yourpaljoey

Hey,

I'm looking to move to L.A. from the NJ/NYC area.

I want to buy a house (any where from 4 to 7 bedrooms) and rent out the bedrooms individually to actors, musicians, students, young professionals and live in it myself as well.

I can afford up to $300,000

What would be an idea neighborhood to do this in??

Not too ghetto, close to some "action" or a college etc.

Would appreciate any 411.
Thanks.

300,000 4 to 7 bedrooms, even So Central Los Angeles wouldn't work.. Or did you mean 300,000 down?
Nita

[JohnG72]

No.

[timelesschild]

This seems like an unrealistic goal.

[BRinSM]

you might be able to find a 2br condo in the valley for that price and rent the second bedroom to some roomates.

[Delron]

FLOL, this is hilarious. So you basically want to open a flop house? $300K (still) for a 5+ bedroom house??? $300K won't get you into any remotely decent neighborhood, hell I'm not sure it will get you into a rundown large house in any ghetto, either.

No actors, musicians, etc., starving or otherwise, will want to be as far from the scene/action as where you will be buying at $300K.

[Uptown Oakland]

lol

[sll3454]

The good news:
1. It is possible to find 4+ bedroom houses in that price range. (I'll send a dm.)
2. There are plenty of struggling artists and actor-hopefuls moving to Los Angeles.

The bad news:
1. Houses in that range will not be in great condition.
2. Your potential renters are not going to be stable. They might arrive in town with no job. If they don't find something quickly, they will be very short-term renters.
3. Your neighbors are not going to love you, especially if you include musicians.

Suggestions:
1. Start by studying the public transportation systems. Try to find a place convenient to public transportation. (This will be limiting.)
2. Avoid condominiums and other HOAs. They might have rules against what you want to do. Even if they don't, you will have a constant hassle trying to make sure your tenants follow all the rules (and paying their fines if they don't), and you probably will have parking problems.
3. Choose a place with adequate parking, especially if you don't find one near public transportation.
4. Don't rely on the rent money to pay the mortgage.
5. Live near shopping and restaurants, so your actors can get to work easily.

[lrmsd]

Originally Posted by nmnita

300,000 4 to 7 bedrooms, even So Central Los Angeles wouldn't work.. Or did you mean 300,000 down?
Nita

some friends just bought a 4 bedroom,with a pool,2 bath,around 1600 sq. foot,house in north hollywood. they now have discovered they have major plubming and heating issues,however,so although they only paid 329k,there's a reason. And this is after looking for nearly 2 yrs off and on...and asking all the right questions,and having been renting in north hollywood for decades.

It can be done,but not anything more than 3 or 4 bedrooms,and probably not for 300k. 350k is a more realstic budget.

And,with musicians,etc. you need to think about: Is it a home that you can actually play music in? Not all neigbhorhoods are conducive to this.

You can look in echo park/silver lake-though i think b/c of gentrification,the prices are now higher than that.

All said,you don't have to rent to artists and musicians. You can do a roomate search,and if the area is decent/desireable [some parts of no. hollywood are,as is echo park],you can find stable roomates with jobs and plans to stay in the area for awhile. Look at the Whole Foods markets in the area-good potential tenants,for example. And plan to take your time looking for a place-ie,could luck out,but probably will take several months. Try to up your price range,if possible. Otherwise,just do the condo thing and get a roomate or two,as suggested.

[Joseph Marnix]

Temecula have huge houses with 5+ bedroom. It's just 1+ hour drive from LA.

You can probably find 4 adjacent foreclosed houses somewhere in South Central. Then just build up the place with sound proofing rooms.