Carl & Arda Clark, Beach City Brokers

Why Are Short Term Rentals Restricted? If a property is available to rent for a period of 30 days or less, this is called a short term rental. One common example is Airbnb. Various jurisdictions within California have laws limiting short term rentals and requiring permits. You may be wondering why short term rentals are treated differently from standard rentals. There is actually a good reason for this. In many respects, a short term rental is actually more like a hotel stay ...than a rental. Even though the definition allows for stays up to 30 days, both short term rentals and hotel stays tend to be significantly less than a month. In both situations, the rooms change hands frequently. Being quite similar to a hotel in this respect, it makes sense that short term rentals would be regulated as a business rather than a real estate transaction. And in fact, hotels may actually be less of a problem for the real estate market they were never designed to be stayed in for long periods, while short term rentals detract from available housing supply. With reduced supply, this also increases rent prices and forces out some longer term renters. That’s why large cities with high rent prices like Los Angeles and San Francisco require owners of short term rentals to restrict the number of days per year that the property is rented out, or to reside in the property themselves a certain length of the year. Photo by Devon Janse van Rensburg on Unsplash More: https://journal.firsttuesday.us/californias-short-term-r//

Rental Statistics Shifting Across the US We’re all aware that the pandemic has disproportionately affected lower-income residents, including renters. But there are many statistics to look at when examining trends in the rental market, and some of them may not be so obvious. Who, when, where, and how much are all questions to consider. The when is the most obvious as a result of the pandemic, there were very few rental applications in the spring when the lockdowns began. Wha...t you may not know is that this is approximately when rental application volume typically goes up, so the normal rental market was effectively delayed by about two months. The period was shorter as well, ending in July rather than August as usual. In prior years, the most frequent age group for renters was Millennials, followed by Gen-Xers. While Millennials are still at the top, their percentage among renters is shrinking, and Gen-Xers have lost their second place spot to a new group, the Gen-Zers. This is particularly striking because most people in Gen Z are not actually old enough to sign a rental agreement. What happened is that Gen Z was the only group to have an increase in percentage of renters, as every other category dropped, including Boomers who still retain 4th place. 16 of the 30 largest cities in the US had an overall decrease in rentals, and even in those few cities where the percent of people moving in was increasing, the percent of people leaving accelerated even more. The good news for renters is that average rent prices in expensive cities are dropping from last year, which is particularly important because average income for renters stagnated in 2020. Only one city among the 30 largest, Baltimore, had an increase in rent prices leaving it above $1300. All the others with prices above this figure had a drop in rent prices. The largest dollar increase was $62 in Phoenix, from $1120 to $1182. By contrast, average rent prices dropped $640 in San Francisco, from $3695 to $3055. Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash More: https://www.rentcafe.com//market-sna/year-end-report-2020/

Pandemic Relief FAQ There’ve been plenty of articles written about the ever-changing details of the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums. Less has been said about other forms of pandemic relief, such as federal rent relief stimulus. While the stimulus was passed already in December, there are still some things you may not know about it. The federal pandemic relief bill includes $25 billion in rent relief, approximately $2.6 billion of which is going to California. We haven’t ...yet heard the details on how to apply for rent relief, except that there is an option to give your consent to your landlord to allow them to apply on your behalf, but there is information about who qualifies. One need not be a citizen of the US or have documents to qualify, though it’s possible that individual states and jurisdictions could limit this. The main qualification is that the pandemic have caused you risk of homelessness or housing instability. Qualifying households must make 80% of the area’s median income or less, and there must be at least one person in the household who qualifies for unemployment or has experienced financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. A qualifying household can get a maximum of 15 months worth of relief, as determined by their need, usable for unpaid and future rent and utility payments. It’s possible that some of the money could be used for other purposes, however, because the money is intended to be primarily for rent and utilities, it will be paid to the landlords and utility companies. Only if the landlord refuses it will the tenant be paid directly. Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash More: https://www.latimes.com//federal-stimulus-bill-rent-relief

The Evolution of California’s 2020 Market California’s housing market saw multiple shifts during 2020 as different sectors reacted differently and regulations changed with the times. When 2020 began, we already had high home prices and a construction deficit. The lockdowns of the pandemic propelled an economic recession that was already in the making, causing it to arrive faster than expected. Normally recessions cause a drop in prices, but the circumstances of this recession... were forced, and therefore not necessarily subject to the same natural tendencies. In the beginning of the lockdowns, real estate agents were not able to meet with clients or show property, causing the market to grind to a sudden halt. As the year progressed, regulations loosened somewhat, allowing showings under safe conditions. That prompted a spike in demand, as people who were itching to buy, especially with low mortgage rates, were finally able to start looking again. However, that did nothing to change available inventory. Inventory is low as a result of lack of construction, and what little construction there was being halted by lockdowns. In addition, most of the construction being done was for higher-end single-family residences, even as many prospective buyers were losing income due to the pandemic. With high demand and low inventory, prices simply continued to go up. The market itself isn’t the only thing that changed, though. Prospective buyers are no longer looking for the same types of properties they wanted before 2020. If people are going to spend more time at home, they want the type of home that they’ll be happy living in. Move-in ready. Plenty of space. Home offices. Room versatility. It even extends to the outdoor amenities houses with pools and outdoor living space are selling quickly, since people are able to be outside without leaving the confines of their property. Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash More: https://patch.com//how-coronavirus-changed-ca-housing-mark

Made a Resolution to Exercise More? This is the Year Exercise more is a common New Year’s resolution, but few are able to keep to it for long. They may go to the gym for a couple months, but the lack of time or energy makes it difficult. The simplest solution is actually something that many people are planning to do already as a result of the pandemic forcing them to stay at home: Build a home gym. If you don’t know where to start, here are some tips for you. The first step... is to designate the space where you want your home gym to be. Dedicating an entire room allows you to work out without distractions, but that may not be possible for everyone. A couple alternatives are a section of your garage or basement. Next, lay down some rubberized flooring, and make sure there are mirrors to check your form as you work out. Now for the actual equipment: at least one cardio machine, weights and a bench, and a yoga mat for post-exercise stretches. There are many types of cardio machines variously suited to different types of exercise. Common ones include treadmills, elliptical machines, stair steppers, and stationary bikes, or, if you don’t have the budget for expensive machines, simply a jump rope will do just fine. Photo by Damir Spanic on Unsplash More: http://blog.mattgoeglein.com//build-a-home-gym-for-your-n/