Can't rent my SF house, request candid feedback (San Francisco, Berkeley: sale, renters)

[Mach50]

Beautiful house in a nice area, close to the beach, zoo, highway and GG Park. 4700 is about right IMO, perhaps 4500.

What about opening it up to pets? (you have tile and wood how much damage can a pet really do?).

[DocGoldstein]

If you're going to open it up to pets, I'd ask for a hefty deposit.

From experience (I have a few rentals), no disrespect to Mach50, but pets can cause a lot of damage to wood or tile depending on what type of each you have.

If you have slate tile, they can quickly scratch off the tile coating within days. This will require you to recoat the tile to get that uniform "shine" again, otherwise it will look like backyard tile if you know what I mean.

If you have laminate, owners who don't maintain their pets nails will leave permanent damage to the flooring, after one year I can't imagine how it would look. It would require replacing for sure. If it's real wood, you still have the scratch problem, but at least you can sand it and repair it (but only around 2-3 times before replacement). Urine stains can permanently damage both, and warp the shape of the board.

So be mindful of allowing pets, I find 9 times out of 10 you will find owners who generally pick up well after their pets, and maintain their nails, etc. But you will get that one person who just doesn't care and their dog/cat will tear your floor up.

[Cruithne]

Great house. I'd say you are fairly close to the mark with the rent you are asking.

However, I don't know if I'm telling you what you already know here, but a couple of things to consider:

I'd say this is a house which is going to appeal to the family market.
Have you checked out the local schools? I don't know what the schools are like nearby but from my experience, the price of family homes to buy or rent in the Bay Area is heavily driven by the quality of the local schools (though that is not the only factor). If a family were to rent this home and the local schools are not great, they may want to consider private school. This home with its 4 bedrooms, is likely to appeal to a family with more than one kid = schools fees x2 (That's at least $40 thousand per year extra to take into account).

Secondly, I don't know what this house is worth, but bear in mind a $1M house with today's interest rates, currently costs about $4000 a month. If someone can find a similar house for 1 million dollars they would be better off buying.

That being said, there are still families looking to rent either short term or because they have a home elsewhere they cannot sell. The market has changed dramatically though in the last 3 months and things are definitely moving. The low interest rates are encouraging people to buy again.

I have just bought a family house (Yay finally!) in the East Bay so I've been through all the pro's and con's.

Two things you could consider doing:
Dropping the rent considerably rather than just a bit - this would probably get some competition going. We tried to rent a house a few months ago we thought was really good value - we fought for it - offered more than they were asking to secure it - got it - then some guy from Hewlett Packard came in with his bigger wodge of cash and talked the landlord into giving it to him instead.

A bit of investment maybe needed with this idea: Is there any way the split the house into two levels so you can rent it as two units? This would eliminate the family market and just appeal to singles or couples.

Just had another thought. It appears the house has very little garden (yard). A family with 2 kids are likely to be looking for at least some outside space for their kiddies at this price. Can you open up the garden a bit beyond the retaining wall, or create another flat level above it?

[mayorhaggar]

Splitting it into apartments would be a good idea. If it's a 4br you could feasibly split it into 2br's going for $2500 a month or up and get more overall, you'd have to have 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms though. Probably at this point that would probably feel like too much bother and money but in the long run I think it would be a good investment, the market for 1 to 2br's in SF is red hot right now. Lowering the rent to get more interest and starting a bidding war would be a good ploy too. Maybe find a property manager in the city and have them deal with renting the place out, and look into rental ad sites other than craigslist which isn't going to be used as much by the high roller tenants you think you deserve.

[TheGreatCurve]

Originally Posted by Mach50

What about opening it up to pets? (you have tile and wood how much damage can a pet really do?).

Are you kidding? Pets can easily scratch up tile and hardwood and make them look very old in no time.

[TheGreatCurve]

Originally Posted by Kentmum

Secondly, I don't know what this house is worth, but bear in mind a $1M house with today's interest rates, currently costs about $4000 a month. If someone can find a similar house for 1 million dollars they would be better off buying.

Actually closer to $5,000/month with no down payment and a jumbo loan, which is how you have to compare to renting since you don't need a down payment to rent. Then you'll also need to add in property taxes, insurance, maintenance, fees, closing costs, etc., all of which could run you another $1,500 per month.

[Cruithne]

Originally Posted by TheGreatCurve

Actually closer to $5,000/month with no down payment and a jumbo loan, which is how you have to compare to renting since you don't need a down payment to rent. Then you'll also need to add in property taxes, insurance, maintenance, fees, closing costs, etc., all of which could run you another $1,500 per month.

Its true, I agree, you do need a significant amount in the beginning to cover those costs and I admit the property tax is a killer.
If you can get past that though, I'd still say buying is definitely the way to go at the moment. We actually managed to get an interest rate of 3.75% 30 year fixed!!. Interest rates will likely never be so low ever again and house prices are on the up.
You are never getting back the money you pay to a landlord, but at least you have some hope of recouping some of your money if you come to sell a house (assuming the economy doesn't take another dive).
I'm guessing everyone else is seeing / thinking the same thing and that's part of the reason the OP is having trouble.
Some thinking outside the box may be needed.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by TheGreatCurve

Are you kidding? Pets can easily scratch up tile and hardwood and make them look very old in no time.

OK... not my experience but I have smaller dogs.

It is VERY HARD to find a family house in San Francisco that allows pets, unlike here in Denver (SF = dog haters ).

138 3br+ allowing dog's in SF

1000 Plus 3br+ allowing dog's in Denver

I imagine they'd get some bites if pets were allowed.

[TheGreatCurve]

Originally Posted by Kentmum

Great house. I'd say you are fairly close to the mark with the rent you are asking.

Not really. I think another problem he may be having is that Zillow's rent estimate for this house is only $3,200/month:

95 Miraloma Dr, San Francisco, CA 94127 - Zillow

[TheGreatCurve]

Originally Posted by Kentmum

We actually managed to get an interest rate of 3.75% 30 year fixed!!. Interest rates will likely never be so low ever again and house prices are on the up.

I agree that this is about as low as interest rates will ever go but I also see that as a problem when buying a house. If ultra low interest rates make buying a house much more affordable, then it follows that high interest rates make buying houses less affordable. And we all know interest rates will definitely be going up from here since they can't go down any more so there's only one direction they can go and that's up. Which means housing prices will have to fall as interest rates go up to make the monthly payments still affordable for buyers. So if you have to sell your house when interest rates are high, you may take a loss on the sales price.