Smart investing is less about whether you should get into real estate and more about where and how you should invest.
As the economy barrels towards recession, now is the time to secure your portfolio with a Santa Monica property. California has plenty of significant real estate options: Ocean Park, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Broadway, Georgina, and Wilshire, just to name a few.
From open houses and new listings in the Pacific Palisades to townhouses north of Montana or Ocean Avenue, this article will cover why Santa Monica might just have the edge over Venice Beach regarding CA real estate.
Choose Santa Monica Real Estate
There is a reason Santa Monica homes for sale are sought after by L.A.’s top real estate brokerages: it’s hyper-prime real estate.
Christina has four decades of experience in Los Angeles real estate. The firm’s portfolio is built on high-value assets like Santa Monica real estate.
Let’s explore why Santa Monica, California, is the ideal market for investors and how you can add its high-value real estate to your investment program.
Where Is Santa Monica?
Santa Monica is a neighborhood in L.A’s Westside region, right on the coast.
The Westside region is a general grouping of neighborhoods starting west of La Cienega Boulevard and south of the Santa Monica mountains. The area is one of the city’s most competitive regarding high-value real estate.
Santa Monica is a stand-out real estate market among these hyper-prime neighborhoods.
What Sets Santa Monica Real Estate Apart?
- It’s a great location.
- It is the epicenter of Los Angeles’s burgeoning tech economy
- It’s an affluent neighborhood
What Makes Santa Monica Such a Great Location?
The location has a crucial influence on property.
A single-family home in Santa Monica will be worth more than a luxury home upstate.
New York, for example, due to the unique features of Santa Monica’s location.
For example, Santa Monica’s extensive coastline is a huge advantage. Waterfront properties universally raise property value — Santa Monica has lots of it.
Whether it’s businesses setting up along the Santa Monica pier or people who want a beachfront view from their home, the coastal features of Santa Monica are signature attractions of the neighborhood. Additionally, the school district is one of the best in Southern California.
Santa Monica’s Location Has Both Aesthetic and Practical Appeal
Santa Monica is the end destination for thousands of people traveling through the city. As a result, the neighborhoods host vital arterial roadways connecting the city.
The ten goes through Santa Monica, and Santa Monica Blvd connects the Westside to central.
The beautiful beachfront landscape in Santa Monica is enough to drive a substantial market for real estate — people want to be near the beach.
Santa Monica’s picturesque and well-situated location sustains demand for property, ensuring that real estate assets in this lucrative neighborhood stay lucrative.
What Is Silicon Beach and How Does It Affect Santa Monica Property?
Silicon Beach describes a transformation economic phenomenon where tech companies have moved ever-increasing numbers to Westside neighborhoods like Santa Monica. The name references Silicon Valley up north in the San Francisco Bay area.
In 2011, Google built its largest campus outside the Bay Area in Santa Monica. Since then, the biggest names in tech have followed suit, turning the coastal neighborhood into a burgeoning tech hub.
Here are just a few tech companies that have established themselves in Santa Monica:
- Snap, Inc
- Hulu
- Headspace
- Inspire
- Naughty Dog
- Leaf Group
- 12Twenty
- Postmates
- GoodRx
- Gum Gum
- Task Us
The Concentration of Tech Has Galvanized the Santa Monica Real Estate Market
A single, big-name tech company can transform a city.
Santa Monica alone has 31 tech companies within its borders which have profoundly affected the neighborhood, down to the real estate market.
Tech has become a dominant sector of the modern economy. Established businesses in the tech world are rich in capital and resources that increase the cash flow of their immediate environment.
Competing businesses looking for office space make commercial real estate leases more competitive. High-income employees working for tech companies have the capital to put more money down on residences.
Tech companies have a towering presence in Santa Monica real estate, taking this already hyper-prime market to new levels.
Why Is There Such a High Circulation of Capital in Santa Monica?
Santa Monica has been an attractive place to be for a long time.
Demand for property in the neighborhood has consistently trended upwards for decades and decades. Over time, Santa Monica has coalesced into a highly exclusive area when it comes to property ownership due to the constant demand for real estate.
As a result, Santa Monica has become one of the country’s most affluent neighborhoods.
A positive feedback loop reinforces affluent neighborhoods like Santa Monica, wherein the area draws in more investments the richer it gets. High-value communities tend to persist as high-value neighborhoods.
Santa Monica Real Estate Assets Are Stable Investments
The high threshold for property ownership in Santa Monica real estate means that the real estate market has a high degree of capital circulating through it.
With so much capital underpinning the local economy, the real estate market is better insulated from economic downturns. Santa Monica real estate is so valuable that it stays valuable.
While initial costs of getting into this whole market are high, the stability and return potential of Santa Monica, real estate make it one of the most secure investments investors can make.
Want to learn more about how you can get involved in exclusive, high-value real estate? Christina’s educational resources will help you better grasp the market, enabling you to approach high-value real estate.
How To Invest in Santa Monica Real Estate?
Santa Monica has plenty of features that make its real estate assets must-haves for an investment portfolio.
Here are a few ways investors can get involved with Santa Monica real estate investments.
- Rental property ownership
- House flipping
- Invest with a firm
Rental Property Ownership
The majority of housing units in Santa Monica are rentals — 72% of all households.
Santa Monica has a strong pool of renters, indicating that demand in the rental market is equally vital. Owning a rental property allows investors to get a stable return by leasing out real estate assets to tenants.
Benefits of Renting Santa Monica Real Estate
The average rent for an apartment in Santa Monica is almost $4,000.
Property ownership has a steep entrance price, but with such high cash flow from real estate assets, investors have the cash flow to make more financial moves that increase their wealth.
As inflation continues to rise, income from rental properties serves as an effective hedge against the weakened purchasing power of the dollar.
Rising prices tend to affect rent. Landlords can mitigate rising costs by passing them off to tenants.
Drawbacks Of Rental Properties
Rental properties are a lot of work.
Property management can turn into a full-time job. Between repairs required on the property, screening tenants, and in a worst-case scenario, tenant eviction, rental properties demand a significant portion of time.
Investors who hire third parties to do property management only turn that cost on their time into more money paid into the asset.
Whether it’s time or money, rental properties can have a high cost in the long run.
House Flipping
House flipping produces a relatively short-term return uncommon in real estate investing.
Investors will buy a property, usually, a residential fixer-upper, whose value can significantly increase through improvements.
Everything from additions to simple renovations like new kitchen cabinets can increase the property’s value.
In a robust real estate market, property value can rise enough within a year that investors can sell for a profit thanks to appreciation alone —- Santa Monica real estate has sold almost 10% higher than last year.
The Benefits of House Flipping
House flipping can be highly lucrative.
Flipping a high-value asset like a Santa Monica home can get investors a strong, relatively fast return.
Between improvements made to the property and general appreciation common in real estate, house flipping can be a highly effective strategy, particularly in a hyper-prime market like Santa Monica.
The Drawbacks of House Flipping
House flipping can be an effective strategy, provided everything goes right.
If just one thing goes wrong, a house flipping strategy can quickly devolve into a financial quagmire.
For starters, a fixer-upper can need far more repairs than expected. The more repairs a property needs, the longer they take to complete preventing the property from hitting the market.
If the market takes a downturn, investors can be stuck with a significant amount of capital tied into a property that continues to lose value.
Invest With a Real Estate Investment Firm
Investing with a real estate investment firm is the best way to get access to high-value real estate assets.
- Less work for you
- Gain access to properties you couldn’t individually
- Less risk
- Professionals
Less Work
Firms like Christina arrange the sales, the repairs, the property management, and all the minutiae that come with real estate investing.
All you need to do is open up an account — the professionals at Christina take it from there.
More Access
Hyper-prime markets like Santa Monica are tough to get into as an individual investor.
Firms pool together vast amounts of capital that allow investors to include multiple
multi-million dollar assets to their portfolio. Take a look at what Christina has in their portfolio.
Less Risk
Going it alone with real estate investments can put your finances at risk.
High-value real estate requires significant amounts of capital. When you’re putting extreme amounts of money on just one property, you’re not getting the diversity of assets that keep your finances safe.
Investing with a firm like Christina puts your money into a diverse, high-performing portfolio of hyper-prime assets, keeping your money safe.
The Future of Santa Monica Real Estate
For reliable real estate opportunities, few markets have better potential than Santa Monica.
Its ideal location alone is enough to ensure that property here is virtually guaranteed to rise in value.
Now that tech companies are clamoring for real estate, this already hyper-prime market is headed to another level of value. Santa Monica real estate is as premium as can be found within its asset class.
Santa Monica is the best option for investors who want the best the real estate market offers.
Invest With The Best
Getting invested in premium Santa Monica real estate is difficult to do alone.
Over four decades in the Westside region, Christina has developed an investment strategy that gets results in this highly competitive market.
Work with professionals with the skill set, the knowledge, and the network to get you the best real estate Santa Monica offers.
Get started today and protect your portfolio for tomorrow.
Sources:
31 Tech Companies in Santa Monica You Need to Know | Built in LA
Affluent Neighborhood Persistence and Change in U.S. Cities | NIH
Santa Monica Demographics | Point2Homes
Santa Monica, CA Rental Market Trends | RentCafé
In the U.S. and around the world, inflation is high and getting higher | Pew Research