Fremont Real Estate and Beyond

The City of Hayward's preliminary Residential Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection Ordinance includes fines and jail time for rental property owners who don't share rent increase and eviction information with City Hall. Other rules include Hayward politicians and bureaucrats determining a property owners "fair rate" of return on their investment. You can review the entire draft Ordinance here. The City Council will take action on the Ordinance during their June 18 meeting.  Share your thoughts about this issue, and your experiences as rental property owners or managers, with the Hayward City Council.

The City of Hayward released a draft of a Residential Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection Ordinance. The 45-page document presents new rules regarding:  -A landlord's "fair rate" of return on investment -Limits on rent increases including increases on vacant units -Landlord-tenant dispute resolution -Security deposits -Eviction and harassment -Discrimination based on source of income -Information landlords must provide to tenants and to the City of Hayward including terminations and rent increases. The Hayward City Council is scheduled to take action on this ordinance during its June 18 meeting. You can review the entire draft Ordinance here .

“Like-kind” means I must exchange the same type of property, such as an apartment building, for another apartment building.   FALSE A 1031 Exchange means that the sale and the purchase have to happen at the same time. In other words, the seller has to find someone willing to swap properties. FALSE My attorney or CPA can handle the exchange for me as my Qualified Intermediary. FALSE To do a 1031 Exchange I just need to file a form with the IRS with my tax return and “roll over” the proceeds into a new investment.  FALSE I can only defer my capital gains tax via a 1031 Exchange.  FALSE All of the funds from the sale of the relinquished property must be reinvested.   NOT NECESSARILY You must replace the debt that you had on the relinquished property with at least the same amount of debt on the replacement property.  FALSE Opportunity Zone Funds are another alternative to defer my taxes.  POSSIBLY When I sell my personal residence I need to set it up...

A special City of Hayward task force will discuss a moratorium on increasing rents and other tenant protections during a meeting on Thursday, March 21.  An agenda for the meeting was released March 19. The Council Homelessness-Housing Task Force was established to advise the City Council on rental housing policies.  During the March 21 meeting they will study the rent moratorium and these other issues: A mandatory mediation program with binding arbitration triggered when rents are increased more than five percent.  (Single family homes and condominiums would be exempt); Elimination of the vacancy decontrol provisions of the current Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance; Protecting Section 8 voucher holders from discrimination; Requiring landlords file rent increase and eviction notices with the City of Hayward; and Explore ...

During their March 5 meeting, the Hayward City Council unanimously approved an emergency that requires landlords to show a "just cause" for evicting a tenant.  The requirement applies to all rental housing in Hayward including single-family homes and condominiums. According to a press release issued by the City of Hayward, landlords must notify their current tenants of the new policy no later than April 5 and must notify all future tenants, as well. A complete list of "just causes" for eviction are available here .  For more information please contact Jennifer Ott, Deputy City Manager at: Jennifer.Ott@hayward-ca.gov

During their Feb. 19 marathon meeting lasting well past midnight, the Hayward City Council directed staff to work on the following new rental housing policies: Increasing rent, and all other charges, more than 5% would trigger a mandatory meditation process with the potential of a binding arbitration between the landlord and tenant.  This requirement would apply to all rental units except single-family homes.  It is not yet clear whether condominiums would be exempt. The current vacancy decontrol process could be eliminated altogether or possibly suspended for three to five years for the remaining 1,000 to 1,600 units in Hayward currently subject to the Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance. Eviction for Cause would be expanded to cover all rental units including single-family homes and condominiums. Require all landlords to notify the City of Hayward when in...

The Hayward City Council is considering new rental housing policies some of which will cover single family homes and condominiums. Hayward staff will present the suite of new and expanded regulations to the City Council during a work session on Tuesday, February 12.  They include: Binding landlord-tenant mediation in disputes related to rent increases exceeding five percent.  Single family homes, condominiums and rental units constructed after 1979 and would be exempt. Eliminating the vacancy decontrol provision from the existing Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance. (RRSO) Expanding eviction for cause to all rental units including single family homes and condominiums. Adding a relocation assistance provision to the RRSO that would require a landlord to pay a tenant an amount equal to three times the Fair Market Rent as defi...

2017-2018 Rent Ordinances Annual Report The City Council will be reviewing the 2017-2018 Annual Report on the Rent Review and Eviction Protection Ordinances at their February 12, 2019 meeting. No regulatory action is being taken at this meeting.  Meeting Information City Council Meeting Tuesday, February 12, 2019 7:00 PM City Council Chambers 34009 Alvarado-Niles Road Union City, CA Agenda/Staff Report The meeting agenda and staff report can be accessed HERE and will be available online on Friday, February 8, 2019. Additional Information For additional information regarding the Rent Review and Eviction Protection Ordinances, please visit www.unioncity.org/rent-requirements Contact Information Program Administrator ECHO Housing Phone: 1-855-ASK-ECHO / 1-855-275-3246 Email: UnionCityRentReview@EchoFairHousing.org Website: www.echofairhousing.org City of Union City Housing & Community Development Division Phone: (510) 675-5392 Email: Ho...

Happy New Year! My amazing Escrow Officer, Jennifer Thayer, put together this graph to summarize who pays for what in 2019 as there have been a ton of changes that went into effect.  Feel free to DM me if you have any questions!

FEMA announced late Friday that it will once again renew flood insurance policies, which were halted during the partial federal government shutdown.  This has affected ~40,000 home sale transactions nationwide.  More info here-- https://rismedia.com/2018/12/31/nar-helps-secure-fema-reversal-shutdown/

Marketplace's, "Make Me Smart" podcast did a great report on the affordability crisis of housing in the US. 

Costar, the commercial real estate data behemoth that owns Loopnet and Apartments.com recently purchased Cozy.co, the landlord management system.  It will be interesting to see how they connect their current holdings with Cozy to make the purchase and management of properties more streamlined. More info here-- https://cozy.co/blog/great-news-cozy-joins-costar/