Posted on 02/07/2010 10:04:54 AM PST by Signalman
Room for rent: No drugs, drama or pets. Must be mellow and employed.
Living with housemates is not exactly ideal, but it’s a choice many people are making to get through tough times.
Job losses and other financial constraints are forcing people to reduce living expenses in a big way. For some, that might mean downsizing from a house to an apartment — or just a room. Some people have had to move home with the folks.
Others are able to remain in their homes, but only by bringing in boarders to help cover costs.
Living on your own in a coastal area like Ventura County isn’t cheap, even as rental rates have dipped in recent years.
The average rent in the fourth quarter was $1,418, down 6.4 percent from the previous year, according to a survey by RealFacts. The Novato-based market information firm, which tracks complexes with 100 units or more, has consistently ranked Ventura County as the fifth most expensive rental region in California.
It falls behind San Jose-Sunnyvale, San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles-Long Beach and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, which is No. 1 with an average rent of $1,527.
RealFacts reported the average occupancy rate in the October-December quarter was 94.6 percent in Ventura County, up 1.4 percent from the same period the previous year. But there was a dip in between those periods to 92.8 percent in early 2009.
The shrinking pool of qualified applicants has caused apartment vacancies to climb to the highest level in years, even as rents have steadily declined, said Dawn Dyer, president of Dyer Sheehan Group Inc., a real estate analysis firm in Ventura. As leases come up for renewal, many renters are relocating to take advantage of move-in specials — trading amenities such as luxury clubhouses, pools and gyms for reduced rent, she said.
“In an economic downturn, people are less likely to get a lease by themselves,” said Denise Castellucci, a representative from RealFacts. “You see a lot more doubling up in certain markets.”
The number of people who open their homes to roommates may have some effect on the multifamily market, she said.
The rental market’s recovery hinges on when people start going back to work, Castellucci said, noting that there will probably be less demand for cohabitation as the economy rebounds.
“It’s also a great commitment to live in someone’s house, especially a stranger,” she said. “How long will that last?”
People are finding ways to adjust, sometimes sacrificing space or privacy along the way.
“There are a lot of people out there who are suffering, basically because they cannot find enough work to have their own place,” said Artie Anderson, an architect, real estate broker and general contractor.
It’s a full house at Anderson’s beach house in Ventura. He and his wife and son rent a room to a couple and are trying to find a tenant for another spare room.
“It’s kind of nice to have an extra room but we could use the money more,” Anderson said.
He has met applicants from all walks of life, from a former millionaire to someone living out of his car. Choosing a tenant with a reliable income is a huge concern, “because it’s a real hassle to get them out if they can’t pay,” Anderson said.
Do your homework
What does he look for?
“They’ve got to be mellow, and they’ve got to have a job,” he said. “If you don’t do your homework, you could end up in sheer misery.”
Part of that homework is calling a prospective tenant’s previous landlord, he said. A current landlord anxious to get rid of a bad tenant might not be truthful.
To keep renters in line, Anderson has written house rules, including when music can be played and how frequently guests can spend the night.
“The most important thing that a landlord can do is be incredibly picky,” said William Schneberg, a Ventura attorney specializing in landlord and tenant law. If they are living with the tenants, landlords have a tendency not to check on applicants as thoroughly as they should, he noted.
People who rent out their rooms don’t always understand that they are now a landlord, he said. That means enduring a costly and long eviction process if a tenant does not leave willingly.
The eviction process typically costs $1,000 and takes roughly 35 to 40 days from the time the complaint is filed to the time the Sheriff’s Department physically removes a tenant. That can feel like eternity to landlords stuck with substance abusers or renters with mental problems.
Once a complaint is filed with the court, records are sealed for 60 days, so information about a recent eviction is not available to prospective landlords during that time, Schneberg said. He encourages his clients to look for inconsistencies or unexplained gaps in applicants’ rental history.
“Anytime you let somebody in a property that you own, there’s a loss of control,” Schneberg said.
‘It just makes sense’
Wendy Stroud has had mostly positive experiences sharing her Oak View home since a divorce in 2007. She said the main advantage to renting a room is the income, but there’s also someone to look after the property and feed her pets when she’s away.
Stroud has noticed that more people seem to be renting rooms because of layoffs.
“When the economy crashed, there was just this flood of rooms for rent available,” she said. “If you have the room and are in a tight spot, it just makes sense to rent it out.”
Stroud couldn’t think of too many inconveniences, other than having to wear a robe to the restroom at night if she rents to a man.
Stroud, whose teenage daughter also lives with her, lists a spare room on Craigslist for $495 a month.
“Please be employed, responsible, nonsmoking, no drugs, and preferably no pets; we have two dogs and two cats already,” she requested in her posting.
Many don’t pass muster
Most respondents she’s seen can’t handle the deposit and first month’s rent, and a fair number are on unemployment and want to downsize.
Stroud has a positive attitude about sharing her home, describing it as a “grand experiment” in learning to get along with new people.
“It’s an adventure,” she said. “You never know who it’s going to be.”
However, Stroud cautions that you need to choose wisely. She has experienced personality conflicts or roommates with a “different idea of what clean means.”
Before meeting potential roommates, she interviews them on the phone to learn about the situation they are leaving, their work hours and whether they are financially stable. Stroud works out of her home, so it’s important her housemate has a job outside the house.
When she meets applicants, she looks for clues, such as how their cars look. Her decision is based mostly on intuition and her daughter’s input.
“If I didn’t need to do it financially, I probably wouldn’t,” she said.
Trading space for income
Tommy O’Halloran is familiar with sacrificing extra space for extra income. To afford living by the beach, he has rented two of the four bedrooms in his Oxnard Shores residence for the past 17 years.
There’s a lot more people looking for rooms to rent than there used to be, he said. He attributes the increase to foreclosures and people going back to school because they can’t find work. He believes renting part of a house is a better deal than an apartment because there’s a backyard and storage.
He’s had mostly good experiences with roommates, because they’ve been referrals from friends. But that’s not a foolproof system.
“I’ve had some problems with unbalanced individuals who were able to get through the door,” he said. “Then you find out they’re on medications and they lied about their previous history.”
His most hellish experience was when a roommate decided not to pay rent and threatened to call the police with false accusations unless he let her squat.
O’Halloran has plenty of tips. He suggests don’t be in a rush to fill a room. Take time to interview applicants and call their employer and former roommates.
On the flip side, some tenants say landlords have unrealistic expectations.
Gail Alarcon lost her job and home. She is having trouble finding a place to rent within her budget that will accommodate her daughter and dog, a pit bull mix.
Alcaron, who lost her job when the Applebee’s franchise chain in Ventura County unexpectedly shut down, compares her situation to renters forced to leave their homes without warning because the property is in foreclosure. Only in her case, she was deceived by family members, not a landlord, she said.
She and her husband, Jim, were horrified to discover the family-owned property in Oxnard where they were living was in default and her husband’s name had been taken off the title.
Too costly to continue fight
She took her brother-in-law to court to put Jim back on the title, but after spending $12,000 in legal fees, she and her husband gave up the fight. They are now renters instead of homeowners.
The financial strain from being unemployed for nearly two years has taken a toll. One morning she was rushed to the hospital for what was thought to be a heart attack or blocked artery, but it turned out to be chest pains from stress. Now, she’s also strapped with thousands of dollars in medical bills.
Every day is a struggle. Alcaron and her husband — who has had only intermittent work as an electrician — are living off savings and selling possessions, including two cars, a motorcycle and two boats. But they’re still behind.
They’re paying $1,400 a month for a one-bedroom, one-bath guesthouse in Camarillo. Alcaron is looking for a bigger place since her daughter moved in, but rents are too high and there are too many qualifications, she said.
“My biggest problem? Who’s going to rent to me for less than $1,500?,” she said. “We’ve looked.”
She’s considered moving to an apartment, but can’t find one that allows dogs. Besides, her husband would be “like a bird in a cage.”
Wow, $1400 in rent? My mortgage is less than that, but I only have a 1st mortgage on a house we bought in ‘94.
Thankfully, my home paid off in full.
I wish people would stop saying this. The "American Dream" historically was only tangentially about a house. The real American Dream is being free to live your life as you see fit, without onerous, intrusive government getting in the way, and being able to go as far as your talents and motivation would carry you. That might mean a house or it might not.
The best way to restore the American Dream is not to sell houses to people who can't pay for them. It is to slash the government back to the proper distance, i.e., remote from the lives of everyday people.
Just think, at the turn of the last century, you could literally go for years without paying any attention to Washington at all, except at election time. Now, wouldn't that be a Dream.
Housing oversupply = strawman. Problem for the last 10 yrs has been slack wage growth. Any number of explanations/causes for it, but that was the root issue with the massive credit expansion and collapse of the housing market.
Prices still being held too high relative to wages. Properties need to revalue, or real wages need to grow before the market will recover.
I’ve always been grateful that I bought my Ventura house before prices went up, and after reading this article I’m even more thankful that I don’t have to take in lodgers to afford to live here!
You said it best!
ROFLMAO! To those people mortgaging their lives to their residences - MOVE, Y’ALL! I moved from L.A. to the Tulsa area in 2003. Have built a house and am currently selling the 1800+ square foot house on three acres that I am living in for less than $60,000. Mortgage payments for buyers around $260 per month. And that’s high for the area.
Most people who find themselves having to rent a room in a stranger’s house when they are in their 40s or 50s have made a long series of very bad decisions. It is a bad decision to stay in a costly area when you have no income, no job, no savings, and little hope of any of that improving.
MOVE, Y’ALL! There is a whole great big world outside of Southern California.
I understand! I’m from Texas and it would be cheaper back there but there are advantages of being here in CA. After ten years I still feel like I’m on vacation!
“Wow, $1400 in rent?”
That’s about the bottom for a 2 bedroom apartment in San Diego County.
“Prices still being held too high relative to wages. Properties need to revalue”
Not going to happen when a small city lot is $100k up and the up front fees to build a home are over $50k before you get a permit.
“MOVE, Y’ALL! There is a whole great big world outside of Southern California.”
Having been to most of the country being an aircraft owner I haven’t foung any place in the US I would consider living in outside of Southern California at any price!!!
My wife and I are both 5th generation Southern Californians and will do anything necessary to die here!
I know what you’re saying. I, too, LOVE California. And if I could have afforded it, I would have stayed. But I couldn’t afford it.
It’s great if you have money. It does feel like vacation. Until you lose your job, or have a legal problem, or get divorced, or have medical bills, or...... I opted for a slower, easier and MUCH more secure existence. Probably wouldn’t have done it at 30, but at 50 it just felt right. And I haven’t regretted it for a minute. LA is only 5 hours away.
What you're talking about should be a right, a mandate, a demand, or an absolute, as in the beginning of Declaration of Independance "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" - not a dream. A dream is not forceful enough of a term for what you are describing there.
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