You don’t have to own a fancy mansion close to Hollywood to generate cash from film location rentals. Properties across the nation garner big bucks to host feature films, made-for-TV movies, commercials, reality TV shows, and photo shoots. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly of location rentals compared with conventional summer rentals.

Good:  Make more money per day. Reality TV shows often pay $500 to $1000 per day or more for a rental, commercials and feature films pay even better. Unless you have a mansion in a desirable area, you probably can’t rent your place for $15,000 to $30,000 per month for a summer rental.

Better:  Eliminate the risk of tenant-landlord disputes. Film location rentals don’t invoke tenant-landlord legal issues that seem to be skewed toward tenants’ rights in many states. You avoid all hassles related to unlawful detainers, evictions and such. Risks are covered by a liability policy of $1 to $2 million that names you as a third party.

Best:  Receive every penny upfront!  Before the trucks drive up and anyone steps a toe onto your property, you receive a check for the entire duration of the rental. Unlike summer rentals to private parties, you take virtually no risk that the tenant won’t pay the rent.

Bad:  Being “homeless” during the rental. Film rentals often require a complete “takeover” so you’ll have to move out. But, hey, it’s a great time to take a trip or kick back at your favorite low-cost resort. Many production companies pay a “relocation fee” of a hundred dollars or more per day toward your temporary housing—all paid up front, of course. 

 Worse:  Not doing a thorough final walkthrough.  Don’t count on being told about damage; you have to check your property very carefully.  On the surface, it may look clean and back in its original condition per the contract, but is it? Here are a few “gotcha’s from my own experience:  a cracked granite countertop that was fixed so well we missed it at first, broken sprinklers, damage to the lawn, a chipped mirror hidden behind a leafy plant, two hanging light fixtures reattached only with glue (almost fell on us), and the list goes on.  

Ugly: Failing to have (or read) a contract through a reputable agent. The contract is generally short, just a few pages, but failing to have one, or to read it, can cost you plenty and get downright ugly.  Without it, a production company could walk away without fixing damages that they caused. Heaven forbid if anyone gets hurt without  proper insurance. So when your friends want to shoot their next YouTube video at your place, refer them to your friendly agent to draw up a location rental contract, show you the money, and have a beautiful experience! 

Learn more about location rentals and dozens of other ways to generate cash from your property in my upcoming book CashCow Casa due out later this summer.

This week, I’m driving around with my new iPhone in hand, checking out home values and pulling up data for recently sold homes. Yes, “there’s an app for that.” A free download from Zillow.com uses the phone’s GPS technology to pinpoint my location. Then an interactive map of nearby homes displays on the screen that I can tap for more info. Hey, I can drive by your house, see how many beds and baths you have, and find out what you paid! Just a couple years ago, I spent several grand trying to get this type of on-the-go data but gave up since it was just too slow and cumbersome. Now it’s a snap and you don’t have to be a geek to get it. Isn’t technology great!

Last week, I grappled with my 13-year-old son’s little cell phone after losing mine, awkwardly trying to get it connected through my car’s speaker via Bluetooth (which never worked). I recorded a central system message to allert callers, “You have reached Kathryn’s currently LOST cell phone; please leave a message.” My previous first-generation iPhone and I never hit it off. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I dropped it three or four times a day on average until I bought one of those silicon skins that turned it from a slippery bar of soap into a usable hi-tech device.

Today, I’m enjoying my fast new 3G. I see more and more folks around greater Malibu with shiny new iPods and iPhones. But I have to admit that I downloaded a 99-cent “flashlight” app so I could search just one more time under the car seats for my old cell phone with its many dents and cracked screen that spent thousands of hours by my side like a trusted friend.

What’s YOUR view?

Check out this idea if you are facing foreclosure. There are many helpful resources available.

“Produce the Note” - 3 Little Words to Save Your Home

April 24, 2009

By Angie Moreschi:

Using the “produce the note” strategy is something all homeowners facing foreclosure can do. If you believe you’ve been treated unfairly, fight back. We have created templates for a legal request, a letter to your lender and a motion to compel to help you through the process. Read more and see videos here…

Everybody’s doing it… hey, take a look at the Application for the Federal Bailout Program. Maybe this would work for you! (Enjoy…)

Click here for the application…

Not if you’re filthy rich, but don’t miss this great opportunity to lower your monthly outlay especially if you could use an economic break like most folks these days. Many states now have tax rebates and rollback programs for properties that have declined in value. New York City recently sent $400 to every homeowner and has been sending annual rebate checks for the past few years.

Some Californians received a property tax rollback without having to ask for it. Los Angeles County automatically reviewed over 300,000 properties purchased between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2007 and lowered the assessments on 128,000 of these homes and condos. The average reduction in assessed value was about $73,000, amounting to an average property tax savings of $750–not exactly chump change. If you own property in Los Angeles County and believe your taxes are too high, click here for a claim form for a Decline-in-Value Reassessment Application (Prop.8). 

How to Rollback Your Property Taxes

• Start by visiting the website of your state or local tax assessor for directions on how to apply for a reassessment. Look for a downloadable application to dispute your current assessment. Don’t know your state’s site? Try Assessor.com for a link.
• Be prepared to prove your case. Provide a recent appraisal if you have one, but don’t worry if you don’t. There are other ways to support your property’s current value. Some assessor websites make it easy for you by providing access to comparable property sales data through their database. It’s also fairly easy to check sales comps on Zillow.com or Trulia.com. You’ll also find helpful statistics there to bolster your case.
• Check with your local real estate agent. If you’re in the greater Los Angeles area, check out the page “Your Home’s Value” from my homepage (MyMalibuRetreat.com) for an instant and automatic summary of comparable properties.
• Have patience and be prepared to appeal the outcome. A reassessment may take months, but you have the right to appeal if you disagree with the assessor’s decision. You also may be able to request a refund of overpaid taxes in past years, but don’t wait by the mailbox for your check since the process could take many months.

Should You Use a Private Company to File Your Appeal?

You may have received a solicitation from a third party offering to file an assessment appeal for your property on your behalf. While these companies typically do not charge an initial fee for the filing, they can receive 45% of the amount of the tax savings or more if the appeal is granted. These offers and services may not be illegal, but you should be aware that many assessor websites provide a fairly simple filing process at no charge. So it may take an hour or so of your time to fill in the application and include convincing “comps” (comparable properties) to support your lower value, but the savings could be worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars to you! Not bad for an hour’s labor.

What’s YOUR view?

I could not make my point previously without casting aspersions on a company that has since sold their way out of what seemed like a conflict of interest. So let me relate a true story that makes my point a different way.

A few years ago I bought about a thousand shares of a gold stock at about $11 per share. As I expected based on researching the fundamentals, the stock rose and within one year had more than tripled in value.  It peaked then started to fall. Negative commentary about the entire gold stock sector was rampant. The fundamentals had not changed, but my hands were weak and shaky with fear so I sold.  The stock did fall further as many others like me were scared out of the market, then it turned around and climbed steadily to the nearly $75 a share that it is today. Luckily for me, I found the honest commentary at www.jsmineset.com and realized my mistake in selling just in time to get back in and ride the stock higher.

Many prospective home buyers are on the sidelines, fearful that the market will go lower. But key fundamentals point in the opposite direction for homes in good locations where the inventory of property for sale (i.e. the “supply”) is limited compared with historical norms.

Think about it. Every item that goes into building a house—every board, nail, and fixture—is costing more to make and more to transport.  And as the value of the U.S. dollar continues its decline, buyers will need more of those dollars to buy the same goods as they did previously—i.e. price inflation.

Yes, housing is a commodity not a product as I’ve explained previously, but I see falling prices as a function of fear psychology not fundamentals. Ultimately like virtually all other commodities, homes in the areas that I serve will continue appreciating—significantly—continuing the long term uptrend based on the fundamentals.

What’s YOUR view?

Who benefits from falling house prices?  Not so much buyers, because buyers often stay on the sidelines waiting for prices to fall further only to discover the good deals disappear fast in good areas.

[PORTIONS OF THE ORIGINAL POST HAVE BEEN DELETED AND CORRECTIONS ADDED HERE IN CAPS]

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index was created by Robert Shiller and Karl Case and licensed exclusively to Macromarkets LLC, founded by Shiller. THE COMPANY HAS SINCE SOLD ITS LICENSING RIGHTS TO S&P.

While many measures indicated a drop in home prices in 2007, for the first time in decades, the government’s index said it was down only 0.3%.  The National Assocation of Realtors measured the downturn at 1.4% nationally. But the Case-Shiller index said it was down 8.9 %.  That kind of number is scarey enough to, well, send people scurrying to a hedge fund to balance their risk in housing.  [PORTIONS DELETED]

What’s YOUR view?

Owning real estate is the best investment you will ever make.  It is one of the last tax shelters left in America.  If the market is in an appreciating cycle, you will sell high AND you will pay high.  In a depreciating cycle you will sell low, BUT you will pay less for the new home.  Unless you want to “play the market” get in and stay in.  Over the long-run you will always win.

What’s YOUR view?

You can always tell whether the market is going up or down by measuring the amount of inventory (i.e. number of homes) coming on and going off the market.  If inventory is going off the market faster than it is coming on – then prices have to go UP. If inventory is coming on the market faster than it is going off – then prices have to go DOWN.

In an appreciating market there is an abundance of “energy” from buyers and no inventory. This pushes selling prices up. Buyers are being funneled through the limited inventory, all wanting the same property and there’s a sense of urgency.  However, in a depreciating market there is an abundance of inventory and no energy. Buyers have their pick of inventory, knowing more is coming on – and there is no sense of urgency.

A good agent can still net you top dollar in a depreciating market by repositioning your home correctly in the market to generate the energy needed to make your home look good compared to the competition.  The agent’s job is to position or reposition with an energy number that drives the traffic through your home so that the buyers make an offer while the other inventory sits.  Historically, the first home to reposition in a depreciating market sells for more money than those who follow. 

What’s YOUR view?

Answer:  The buyers are still around! They just have a different “perception of value” compared with last year and compared with sellers’ perception of value.

A general view in real estate today is that the buyer pool has contracted causing a “buyer’s market.” The thinking is that the market is “bad,” because there are fewer buyers. The number of homes for sale rises since fewer homes are selling.

Conversely, there is also the perception that the buyer pool expands when the market is “good.” In an active real estate market, houses sell quickly and it seems there are more buyers out there. We call this a “seller’s market.”

The truth is that the buyer pool stays roughly the same in either a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. The difference lies in the buyer’s perception of value that either pushes prices up or down. Put another way, it is the supply that controls the demand, not the demand that controls the supply. It’s the same with any commodity.

What’s YOUR view?