The Rams are moving to LA and more than 100 athletes are looking for lodgings.
On the surface, this doesn’t seem to be too profitable for private investors. After all, most hard money dealers make their income through people looking for short term loans. Most of these people are unable to get funds from the bunks. They need a loan for various purposes mainly to flip or buy property. Hard money lenders are the solution for some since they loan largely based on value of property rather than on FICO evaluation or credit history. The Rams are looking to rent rather than own therefore their presence may mean little to nothing to private investors. On the other hand, rentals do cost plenty in Los Angeles and realtors estimate that some of these Rams (and other migrating players) may relocate to Los Angeles and look to buy. Some traditional real estate agents are tracking their cell numbers. If this were the case, los angeles hard money deals may want to give them second thought too.
The Rams
Over the next few months, the Los Angeles Rams will begin moving their business and football operations to their new home in California. Realtors are getting off couches since not only do the Rams have a roster full of players who are actively seeking rentals but, best of all, some players will have to sell homes in the St. Louis area and others will look to more permanently relocate from other parts of the country to southern California.
Moving will take some time. ESPN, Los Angeles News reports that the Rams plan to be in St. Louis through the end of March, when they’re expected to shutter Rams Park and make the actual move to California anywhere from April to July after which they’ll move again. They’ll locate a site and build a permanent practice facility after that, and if it will be in LA it’s possible that won’t be in place until 2018. So realtors have a good few years in their hands to brush up their selling skills and track down interested clients.
What do the Rams mean for Los Angeles hard money lenders?
Hard money investors appeal to those who fail in gaining funds from a bank and are mainly looking to flip, invest or gain some ready money for some similar sort of urgency. Hard money deals do have their flip side such as exorbitant interest and low loan to value rates. On the other hand, they are fast and focus on value of property rather than credit history. More lenders are gauging the borrower’s credentials to – particular work history and reliability in repaying the debts. Many of the Rams should not – it seems to me – have difficulty with the former. Banks may seem them as too risky and point them to the door. Private money lending investors may offer them a chair and coke while getting their forms ready. If realtors see potential, private money lenders may be able to find some athletes who may approach these hard money lenders as a last resort.
Renting – lucrative too?
Some, like the Los Angeles Times comment that the business at least on the front end, probably won’t be that lucrative. Real estate agents make the big money when clients buy or sell, but most agree that Rams players are more likely to rent than buy.
Cost of rental in Los Angeles is sky high and getting higher. LA residents need to earn at least $33 an hour — $68,640 a year — to be able to afford the average apartment in Los Angeles County, according to Matt Schwartz, president and chief executive of the California Housing Partnership. Top-level Rams make that and more but many may be looking for more glorious haunts. In which case, they’ll need to make more or borrow. Beginning athletes too make less in which case they’ll need to borrow too. Enter Los Angeles hard money lenders.
The Rams, too, are predicted to settle in LA (if they do) sometime around 2018. Hard data from research organization RealFacts shows that the already sky-high price of rent in Southern California is only getting higher as the years march on. Come 2018, and given that these predictions materialize, many more athletes will be flooding the offices of LA hard money lenders. Apartments in LA are also scarce since they take a long time to get approved and built. This causes their rent to rise. All of this means good news for Los angeles hard money investors.
Consider, too, that a September 2014 study by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs reported that Los Angeles was the most unaffordable rental market in the country. Bad for the Rams but deliriously exciting for private money lenders who live in Los Angeles. There seems to be scope for business with a new clientele who are actively looking and seem to have the income to repay.
Better still…
The ESPN Los Angeles news noted that “some players will have to sell homes in the St. Louis area and others will look to more permanently relocate from other parts of the country to southern California.” This is great news for Los Angeles hard money lenders since a certain percentage of these athletes may turn to them for funding their home buying enterprises. Real estate agents make the big money when clients buy or sell. This is the ideal situation.
Not all athletes will want to buy. Many players are on short-term contracts and NFL careers are notoriously brief, averaging a little over three years, according to the players union. So if they have permanent homes in the St. Louis area or elsewhere, they may think twice about buying into the Los Angeles real estate market — especially given how expensive it is.
Many, too, may find that expense off putting. After all, the median home price in the Los Angeles area is $506,800 — more than three times the median price of $160,000 in the St. Louis area, according to the most recent figures from the National Association of Realtors.
But some realtors such as Los Angeles-area real estate agent Ed Kaminsky think their city so magnificent that they are sure Rams won’t want to pass up the chance aside from which the Rams do have a roster of permanent players who are looking to own. Kaminsky told the Los Angeles Times this week (January 21st) that “I’ve been on the phone with the Rams’ offices, sports agents, business managers, players, players that aren’t on the team but that have relationships with players on the team”
Agents like him have been trying to land new clients ever since the Rams return to Los Angeles became official. He hopes all the dialing will lead to return calls from the dozens of players, coaches and executives who will be looking for a place to live before the 2016 season kicks off.
Kofi Nartey, an agent at the Agency, a high-end Beverly Hill real estate firm pointed out that you’ve got a 53-man roster plus coaches plus assistant coaches which amount to more than 100 people looking for homes. “You can do 10 leases,”Nartey said, “that don’t net much, but those lead to one sale that makes up for all of them.”
Hard money lenders who live in Los Angeles may want to take notes. The Rams are coming – and business looks good.
