Recent content by Riverne

Man... Astoria is loud as hell because of the freeway. Windows don't open, except one tiny mini-window, to prevent suicides. Apparently walking out onto the balcony and climbing over the railing takes too long for someone seeking instant gratification in death. And ugly inside compared to the...

Ouch .. not cool. For what it's worth, the front desk security people at the Plaza are very friendly. Too bad about the residents though.

I got scared reading this http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Santa-Ana-Essex-Skyline.html.. should I not be? (0% recommended, mostly negative comments.)

I don't know... A home is nicer than living in a tower, but I keep reading comments like these: http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Irvine-Woodbury-Place-Rental-Townhomes-1115950.html, it makes me feel I should go for a high rise instead.

Thanks to all the advice from my first post, I found a few properties that I'm considering leasing. My choice is now between 3 high-rises: Central Park West Astoria, The Plaza, and Marquee Park Place. If anyone has any experience living there or otherwise knows something I should consider...

Ah interesting - high end beach properties is where people think the futures price appreciation will happen, and so they buy at very high price/rent ratios? As for distressed properties, I'm surprised. A renter wouldn't care to fix them, given that they only stay there for a short time. While a...

Yes both look great. If anyone has any other suggestions which communities to look at, let me know. Going to drive around this weekend. Thanks!

That's what I'm starting to realize... Among the newly built townhome communities, which one has the best amenities / best outdoor feel (like walking from your house to the pool is a nice trail with trees? I'll probably just go for that if I can find it.

I was hoping to get amenities similar to Watermarke, Marquee at Park Place, but not in a high rise. So I looked at http://www.condosetc.com, limiting my search to 2-3k in rent; I was looking for a place with hardwood floors and got next to nothing. Maybe I should be using a different search site?

Oh, I know what you mean. But I'm just comparing these ratios against the numbers reported by analysts (Moody's in this case). They didn't add taxes and repairs in their calculation, and still they get 26-28 ratio (while I get under 18-19, even adjusting for HOA/MR).

I find the homes I can get in the range $2500 to be either old, or without nice amenities... I do mind :( Really like newer properties (like 2-5 years old), they just have a different feel to them. Looks very nice. Does anyone know about them? On their website, they only offer rental for the...

I'm looking for something small (600 sq ft is enough; 1200 sq ft is the most I can handle I think - any more and I can't maintain it...) My budget is about $3000/mo, but I was really hoping to get something very nice under $2500. So far of all places I looked at, I somehow liked Watermarke -...

Wow! I didn't realize HOA can be that much. Yeah, with this adjustment, I'm getting price/rent ratio of about 18-19 (assuming 4.5% interest rate). Still quite a bit below the 26-28 I see quoted everywhere, but not the ridiculous 13-14.

Will do, thx... And yeah I guess so - are private rentals much cheaper?

I read in many places (e.g., http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/04/14/135380539/should-you-rent-or-buy-contd, http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/04/rent-vs-own-ratio-to-flip-in-2011/, http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/08/29/where-to-rent-where-to-buy.aspx) that the price-to-rent...