Hello - I live in California and invest in out of state long term rentals. I wanted to know how to best structure my entity to protect my assets and be tax efficient. I have been told to create a holding LLC in Wyoming, and under that, each property has LLC in the state its in. Is that how its done?

Hi everyone! We are still looking for a new home (it's been over a year and we have only made two offers both of which we lost after getting into a bidding war and refusing to overspend). We net $21k monthly (just salary not counting bonuses) and are looking to leave our very inexpensive starter home (bought 2016, valued around $1m, refinanced over COVID with current mortgage set at $3k including taxes/everything and not selling this house when moving) so we have been very comfortable in this home and spend a lot of money traveling, eating out, etc. The move is to get away from the blue collar vibe of our immediate street/neighborhood to a nicer pocket and provide our kid with better immediate schools/environment.

The issue or problem we are having in this market is that with 20% down we are looking at a new mortgage around $8k (assuming we buy new home around $1.3m now) but that doesn't really give us a huge upgrade from our current starter home. It gives us about the same size or slightly bigger with pool in a nicer pocket but we don't feel any "wow" or excitement since our current home is completely remodeled but lacking pool which we got quoted between $150-$200k for everything including patio etc. When we push towards $1.5m we start seeing homes that feel much nicer and more like the upgrade we pictured but then our mortgage is over $9k pushing towards $10k with taxes. I have a hard time feeling comfortable with these numbers since it's so high and close to 50% of our take home which seems crazy.

At what point do you say it's too much to spend? Do you go big on the next home or just upgrade slightly? We expect take home to increase by $5k over the next two years but in my mind that just gives us the little cushion we need to remodel new home, travel, etc. so that doesn't mean we are ok spending too much on new home.

Howdy, I am interested in purchasing a manufactured home with private land.

I don’t know if that’s possible

I want something to live comfortably. I’m okay with a 2/2 bathroom home.

I just don’t know if it’s possible

What steps can I take?

Is there any pros or cons ?

Any leads and advice would help

Thank you in advance

I’m getting more serious about buying and this is one part of the process I didn’t really think much about before. You can like a place from the listing and the tour, then get the disclosure package and suddenly there’s a lot more to think about. For anyone who has bought did the disclosures ever make you completely walk away from a house you were excited about? Trying to get a better sense of how much weight buyers usually give them before making an offer.

I live in Nevada and own a duplex in California. My property manager just told me that because I’m an out-of-state owner, California requires 7% withholding on the rental income once California-source payments exceed $1,500/year.

He called it a “7% franchise tax” and said this is standard for out-of-state owners.

Is this actually a California requirement? Is the 7% a tax I ultimately pay, or is it withholding that gets credited toward my California taxes when I file?

Just trying to understand if this is legitimate before I proceed.

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes remained above their year-ago level for the fourth straight month in July, even as sales retreated to their lowest level in six months. California home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 263,170 in July, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2026 if sales maintained the July pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.

July sales declined 6.0 percent from the revised 279,880 homes sold in June and edged up 1.1 percent from a downwardly revised 260,250-unit pace recorded in July 2025. Statewide sales remained below the 300,000 benchmark for the 46th consecutive month, underscoring the market’s continued struggle to build sustainable momentum. Year-to-date sales were 1.8 percent above last year’s pace through the first seven months of 2026, a small dip from the 1.9 percent growth pace recorded in June. Sales remained above year-ago levels in five of the seven price segments tracked by C.A.R. — led by homes priced at $2 million and above, which rose 8.9 percent from a year earlier — and homes priced below $300,000 which posted a 5.2 percent annual gain.

What advice for seeking an agent that knows the neighborhood? Community? Who pays for the listing photos? Staging?

Can some show some example of fire escape plan as per california state standard?

Looking for a real estate agent in southern Ca that negotiates pre auction homes.

Not selling anything — no course, no paywall, no email wall to read it. Just a hobby project I want a sanity check on.

I got into California tax-deed sales and got annoyed that every county "list" is a giant PDF where the good parcels and the junk look identical. So I started pulling the lists, cross-checking each parcel against the county's *own* assessor/GIS records, and cutting them down with rules you can actually read.

Stuff that surprised me:

- San Bernardino's July sale: of ~1,193 priced non-timeshare parcels, about **858 (~72%) open at or above the county's entire assessed value.** The "minimum bid" often isn't a discount at all.

- The most extreme lot: county values it at **$241**, opening bid **$88,341** (366×). Almost always a data/assessment quirk — never a bargain.

- Riverside: 946 parcels on the list, ~175 I'd actually spend diligence hours on.

Everything's free and the sources are shown so you can check my work: lot-brief.com/sales/ (sortable/downloadable), and there's a write-up of how I read a sale in the research section.

I'm genuinely just trying to figure out if this is useful to anyone but me. If you do this for real — what would make it worth using? What am I getting wrong? Roast it.

Obligatory: this is desk research, not advice — assessed value ≠ market value, verify title/access/everything before you bid.

```

*858 (~72%) open at or above the county's entire assessed value.** The "minimum bid" often isn't a discount at all.

- The most extreme lot: county values it at **$241**, opening bid **$88,341** (366×). Almost always a data/assessment quirk — never a bargain.

- Riverside: 946 parcels on the list, ~175 I'd actually spend diligence hours on.

Everything's free and the sources are shown so you can check my work: lot-brief.com/sales/ (sortable/downloadable), and there's a write-up of how I read a sale in the research section. I'm genuinely just trying to figure out if this is useful to anyone but me. If you do this for real — what would make it worth using? What am I getting wrong? Roast it.

Obligatory: this is desk research, not advice — assessed value ≠ market value, verify title/access/everything before you bid.

This experience actually reshaped my entire view on California real estate.

In short, city cited me a code violation citatio after a 5 minutes google search , and recorded the Notice of violation to my property title the next day, without giving me a chance to even receive the citation.

Citation was because photos on gooogle don’t meet city current code. Without an in person tour, code enforcement issued the citation #1, clouded my title and ruined an active house escrow.

Citation #2 and #3 were issued and all my appeal hearing requests in writing and apppeal hearing fee is cashed, but no hearing was granted.

I lost 10 lbs within a week after I heard from the attorneys that 1. city’s code enforcement notices are essentially a lien on your title 2. to fight against this, you need a 3 year court process, during those 3 years, you can’t refinance, sell or change title to your property.

A 3 year court fight is essentially a $100k attorney fee fight and city has exemptions to reimburse attorney fees so you could win the case, but lose substantially in attorney fees.

So, I was told the best bet is to negotiate with the city and get a settlement.

I figured, due to my proofs in my hands, I shall be able to prove myself. I filed a small claim court case and asked for an injunction relief. As soon as I filed a case against the city, code enforcement immediately called me and said they would refund #2 #3 but not #1 and not refund all the processing fees charged by the center.

i went to court, provided all proofs ( cameras, home usages, witnesses for lease listings ) and city could not provide any proof. Judge ruled in my favor.

I thought this is the final decision. No, I kept receiving collections letter from the city stating I owe them clawback fees due to judge issued order against the city to pay me.

So, the current status is, city still keeps harassing me with collection fees for a violation that I never did and proved to be false allegations by court. I’m facing a $100 citation collection after fighting so hard, and am still owed for thousands of suit costs by the city.

This is probably why you can’t own property in smaller cities and cities in hardship, no matter how good the numbers look like.

TBH, this property has appreciated well, but I was on the edge of getting seized by the city because of google search..

In bigger metros, this problem is less of a problem because they have better understanding of civil rights.

In CAalifornia, you need to ask around and figure out if a city is truly buyable.

I have lived for 40 years in a small 20 unit condo complex, I am an owner. I have been on the HOA board but currently not. In the years I have been here we have been pretty much self managed - the main goal was to keep the dues low. 20 unit complexes may have been practical 40 years ago, but now not so much. We have a situation in that there are many repairs needed - some safety related and the repairs will be expensive necessitating dues increases and special assessments. My concern is that there are people here who will likely not be able to pay. The board passed an almost 50% dues increase which I agree is needed - plus we will need to have a 5% special assessment. Davis-Stirling indicates that a dues increase over 20% needs to be approved by over half the homeowners. Since most of the units are rentals, I believe this will not pass. There was an inspection 2 years ago and I am concerned if another inspection is done we could get "red-flagged." I can't imagine any potential buyer if all the issues were disclosed would buy a place in this complex. In fact I feel sorry for the person that just bought one. My first inclination is to get the heck out of here at whatever price I can get but will take some time. My question is - if people won't pay, what recourse is there? Would the assessment have to be spread equally to the people that remain? What happens if the complex should go into receivership? There will be no reserves left.

Hello, new agent here in California and looking for tips and a sharable excel spreadsheet on how to track expenses like supplies, miles, gas, gifts, meals, brokerage fees, membership fees, etc, and how what to save upload receipts or can screen shot of cc statement work I can prepare for tax person when the time comes. Anything else would help. Thanks

I feel like this is harder to judge right now in California than it used to be.

Some listings sit and it’s obvious why. But others seem fine at first glance - decent photos, normal area, not a complete disaster - and they still don’t move.

How do you usually tell whether a place just needs more time vs. price/strategy/prep actually being off?

I keep seeing people say “just run the numbers” but that only gets you so far in California.

Maybe selling would free up equity, make the next move easier or get you out of a house that no longer fits. But then there’s the low rate, property taxes, kids’ schools, family nearby, commute and the reality of buying back into the same market.

For people who seriously considered selling but stayed, what made you stay? And for people who sold even though they liked the house, what finally pushed you to do it?

I didn’t have much experience in renting. the only landlord I ever had was an on site manager who manages the entire complex for the landlord. We drove by the unit and applied and got accepted easily with great fico no pets double income.

however, when i listed my properties online through zillow, I barely got any good tenant’s contacting me. The photos are professional photos and 3d tours and everything seems to look great with “verified source” label on zillow, but I wasnot able to get good solid leads.

in comparison, when i signed up with pm, properties were able to get rented out within weeks and tenants applied are generally very close to my criteria.

Why are tennats not applying for individual owners properties? TBH, my price is lower than pm’s rate and I wouldn’t raise rent too much . with pm fees, i would probably have to raise rent every year to break even the pm management costs.

Any one can help me understand? why tenants are applying for individually owned properties any more? are they not digging deeply or simply not looking for a better deal?

Hi, my family and I have been living in Orange County for the summer and it’s looking likely that we will come back longer term, from next year.

Whilst I have enjoyed being in Orange County (Irvine to be specific), I’m wondering if there are any recommendations of where else we could move to within the state. For info, we are a family of five from the UK. Our eldest will have started school the next time we come out here and so being near good schools is very important. I would like to be able to walk to shops/cafes, we would be happy to live in the countryside, near the beach, in a town but safety is paramount.

We will be renting and will have a budget of around $10k per month.

Whilst I know the UK and US are very different countries, where I live is a village with playgrounds, green spaces, cafes and shops and a walking distance with friendly people, and I’d be looking for a similar vibe, if we are to move out here on a more permanent basis. Please let me know of any recommendations for area, estate agents, schools etc. thank you.

I’m in need of a roof inspector that is willing to inspect a slate roof in the greater Sacramento area. I am having no luck and I understand that this is a pretty uncommon ask for the area but I am desperate!

Somebody tagged me on this video and I thought it would be helpful to pass it on to people who have California real estate. It has something to do with HOA groups and how obnoxiously strict they are, and too expensive, as well as all of the FINES that they attempt to make money through, so anyway start listening to this at the 4th minute, to hear about the relief from this new law involving HOA regulations and fees.

The guy says that there's a rule I think he called it AB130, and he explains a story about a woman who tried to fix her doorway and she got fined for doing it differently, or not getting approval, and it was even inside her home not even exterior, and how the HOA tried to fine her hundreds of dollars every day and now there's a rule in California where they can no longer do that because, in my opinion, after hearing how these things go, it sounds like the HOA has become the mafia.

SO NOW, according to California law they can only fine you $100 for the initial problem, after having a warning, and giving you a chance to deal with it so that you won't have daily compounding fees from HOAs that are just out to rip off people.

https://youtu.be/hNZxFzgbq3w?is=2m_jnCnOSF19KgOj