Grant Vermeer
House-Hacking, Monterey Edition: The NPS Short ...
Grant Vermeer
PCSing to Monterey: The Naval Postgraduate ...
PCSing to Monterey: The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Area Guide
Kerry Vermeer
Comparative Market Analysis

Even if you aren’t selling, it’s always nice to know the current value of your home!

Comparative Market Analysis

The Power of Appreciation

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A COMPLEX REAL ESTATE INVESTOR TO BENEFIT FROM REAL ESTATE.

Leveraging the VA loan, especially in high property value & high appreciation areas, is an extremely useful tool for wealth building.

And a common argument against buying a home is the opportunity cost of not investing in other asset classes due to large mortgage payments.

And so I wanted to use a case example of a hypothetical Military buyer in Monterey, California using a model built by an amazing financial YouTuber, Nischa.

This model compares the net wealth accumulated under two scenarios:

1️⃣ Buying a house (with mortgage) and selling it at a later date
2️⃣ Renting an equivalent house and investing the extra cash into the stock market

The model will be generated with the following assumptions:

Buying

1) House Purchase Price: $800,000 [Median home price in the Seaside/Marina areas]
2) Down Payment: $0 [VA Loan]
3) Interest Rate: 6% [I have a lender who could get you 5.9% today]
4) One Off Costs (Closing costs/legal fees/inspections, etc.): 3% of purchase price
5) Annual Appreciation: 3 - 4%
6) Annual Costs - Ongoing property costs (e.g. maintenance): 1% of purchase price

Renting

1) Initial Rent (The rent increases annually by Annual Appreciation): $3700
2) Market Return (Annual stock market returns): 8 - 10%

After 30 years (assuming you didn’t sell any assets):
- The total wealth from buying is $2.8M - $3.6M
- The total wealth from renting is $1.3M - $2.4M

And what’s even crazier is that over the past 10 years (Q4 2013 - Q4 2023) the average annual appreciation rate along the Monterey Peninsula has been over 8 percent.

In the scenario where the 7-8% average annual appreciation continued, your total wealth from buying would be $1.9M - $2.2M in just 10 years!

In these high property values, appreciation carries even more weight! Where else can you capitalize on leveraging a $800K asset for minimal up front costs?!

No crazy investment plans or strategies, no money from investors, no crazy work.  Just entering the market.

That $800K home in Monterey may not be your dream home, but it is the first step in achieving it! The best things you can do is entering the market as a homebuyer.

House-Hacking, Monterey Edition: The NPS Short Term Rental Opportunity

For all my savvy real estate investing military officers PCSing to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and getting ready to move to Monterey, I want to bring to your attention some market insight in the city of Seaside. On top of being an amazing place to live while you are a student at NPS due to its proximity to campus & all that Monterey has to offer, it also has great potential for investment purposes.

At a qualitative level, Short Term Rentals (STR) do well in Seaside because of their proximity to tourist attractions in Monterey & Carmel. There are many visitors coming in to spend the weekend in Monterey to golf or spectate golf at Pebble Beach, to utilize the Monterey area as a home base for an extended trip to visit the Monterey area with trips/excursions down to Big Sur, or to just enjoy the coastal town.

Utilizing AirDNA, we can see that the average nightly rate is $342 at a 73% occupancy rate in Seaside. The majority of listings in Seaside are 3 bed homes, so that skews the averages. But we’ll use this data and assume we are dealing with a 3 bedroom STR for the remainder of the article.

With a little bit of rough math, a $342 average rate with a 73% occupancy rate would bring in on average $7593 in monthly revenue.

With this case example, if you were utilizing your VA loan with 0% down to purchase a 3 bed, 2 bath home in Seaside for $700K at a 5.2% interest rate, your PITI payment would be around $4700. After you live in the home for your 1.5 to 2 year program and you’re getting ready to move again, let’s take a look at how you could profit by turning it into a STR.

Now with about $7600 in average revenue, a $4700 mortgage payment, and $600 being saved for budgeted expenses (If you wanted to hire a property manager, you would also need to account for that expense), you would be looking at around $2300/month in cash flow.

And what if you didn’t want to wait until you were moved out, but wanted to do a little house hacking from the start? Well, entire homes don’t make up the whole STR market in Seaside. There are also plenty of private rooms & Additional Dwelling Units (ADU) listed on AirBnb.

For all my house-hacking military members, private rooms are another popular option for AirBnb users in the Monterey area. Whether that’s using a spare room, or permitting an ADU, there are many opportunities available while you are in school!

All that to say -- if executed correctly, I think turning a property in Seaside into a STR could be a profitable venture.

If you have any questions about the area, or may be interested in what’s available, make sure to reach out to us here or email us at grant@thevermeergroup.com & kerry@thevermeergroup.com

And as always you can learn more about The Vermeer Group by visiting our website!

Congratulations on the orders and enjoy your time as a student once more!

PCSing to Monterey: The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Area Guide

For all my military officers PCSing to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and getting ready to move to Monterey, I hope this will give a quick rundown on the Monterey Area and help inform your decision about where you want to start looking to live.

For context, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area my entire life and spent many weekends in Monterey. While I was a Midshipman at the Academy (USNA ‘17), I did an internship at NPS and got to become even more familiar with the area. I spent the majority of my time on Del Monte Beach and strolling along Cannery Row - and I highly recommend y’all do the same! Since separating from the service, I have been working as a real estate agent in Northern California, so there will shamelessly be a little realtor flare in this article.

Here's a brief screenshot of the Monterey area of what would be a 40 minute drive or less to the NPS campus.

  1. Monterey/Pacific Grove - Monterey and Pacific Grove are gorgeous. If you have never been, they are really incredible areas. If you ever come to visit before you move, you have to get the Clam Chowder in the sourdough bread bowl from the Monterey Plaza Hotel overlooking the Monterey Bay because it's actually life changing. You can then walk around the beautiful downtown area called Cannery Row with more restaurants and shops. While in Monterey, you are also in very close proximity to Carmel, and therefore Pebble Beach for all my golf fans out there. But also as a result, the cost of housing is very high in Monterey.

  2. Seaside - Just up the coast, seaside has more residential homes at more affordable price points. Seaside historically used to be a military housing area around Fort Ord -- but it has definitely begun to develop in the past couple of years. And for all my house hackers out there, Seaside has an amazing Short Term Rental (STR) market. This is also a very convenient location for all students at the Naval Postgraduate School, which is located right across from Del Monte Beach.

  3. Marina - Relatively similar to Seaside, there are a couple of more opportunities for Single Family Homes in more affordable price points in the Downtown area. Marina is also being heavily developed. There are multiple developments of new construction homes being built, including The Dunes and Sea Haven, and a relatively new community known as East Garrison that could provide great options for those looking for more space.

  4. (4-6) Salinas, Castroville, and Watsonville are where you break away from the coastal towns and lifestyle, and move into agricultural towns. For example, Castroville is the Artichoke capital of the world and hosts an artichoke festival. There are lots of nice neighborhoods in all of these cities which offer more space and could be a better option for larger families. Salinas is about a 25 minute drive to NPS and you start pushing a 45 minute commute by the time you get up to Watsonville. Also of note, the more north you move up the coast, you move closer to Santa Cruz, which is a super fun beach town. Tons of surfing, restaurants, & the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

A couple other factors to consider and be aware of:

  • Weather: If you are hoping to get lots of that California Sun, you may want to consider the more inland cities of Salinas, Castroville, and Watsonville. The Monterey Coast is notorious for being foggy and gloomy with a high frequency. While there are absolutely very beautiful days, there is a large presence of foggy and cloudy days that include a cold breeze.

  • Airport: The closest major airport is in San Jose, California. There is an airport in Monterey, but it is very small and not many airlines fly into it. In most cases, you will be traveling out of San Jose. This is about 1 hour & 15 minutes from Monterey but only about 30-45 minutes from places like Salinas, Castroville, and Watsonville.

If you have any questions about the area, or may be interested in what’s available, make sure to reach out to us here or email us at grant@thevermeergroup.com & kerry@thevermeergroup.com

And as always you can learn more about The Vermeer Group by visiting our website! Congratulations on the orders and enjoy your time as a student once more!

Kerry's Favorite Listing of the Week

I decided to start off my 2019 Favorite Listing of the Week with a FUN ONE! I went out and bought my lottery ticket so when I win I can buy this beauty in Los Altos. If you want to beat me to it, just give me a call and let’s go check it out! This 7,720 sq ft house PLUS 1,235 sq foot guest house could be yours for only $19,880,000.00. Once owned by Intel founder, Robert Noyce, this estate enjoys views of the bay, the mountains, and the first fairway of the Los Altos Golf and Country Club. I had to have a little fun to kick off 2019 :)

690 Loyola Drive, Los Altos is listed by Art Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty

690 Loyola Drive, Los Altos is listed by Art Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty

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Kerry's Favorite Listing of the Week

$699,000 right here in the heart of Silicon Valley? Well, it may be priced super low to excite a bunch of investors or first time buyers but it is tempting! This 3/2, 1310 sq. ft home sits on a 7,593 sq. ft lot right on the Willow Glen/Cambrian border. With a little cosmetic work this one will be a gem for the new owner. Know someone looking to buy in the Bay Area? Call me, I will get you pre-approved, out to see this home and an offer written up in no time!

1556 Foxworthy Ave, San Jose is listed by Ginger Wilson of Gillmor & Associates

1556 Foxworthy Ave, San Jose is listed by Ginger Wilson of Gillmor & Associates

1556 Foxworthy Avenue, San Jose is listed for $699,000. Offers are being viewed on 12/5. That gives up plenty of time to see this house and get our offer together. Call me if you would like to go see this home in Willow Glen, I’d love to show you! Call me at 650-823-6390 or email at kerry@thevermeergroup.com and we will set up a time to go see it. Remember to download my mobile app to see all current listings available on the MLS.

Kerry's Favorite Listing of the Week

This week’s favorite is an incredibly charming home close to downtown Willow Glen. 904 PIne Avenue is a 3 bedroom/3 bath, 1,818 sq foot beauty. What an excellent opportunity to own in the Bay Area without any updating needed!

904 Pine Ave, Willow Glen is listed by Holly Barr of the Sereno Group

904 Pine Ave, Willow Glen is listed by Holly Barr of the Sereno Group

904 Pine Avenue is listed for $1,399,000. Want to go see it? Call me at 650-823-6390 or email me at kerry@thevermeergroup.com. I’m always happy to show my “favorite listing of the week” As always, you can download my mobile app to see all the current, available listings on the MLS.


Kerry's Favorite Listing of the Week

This week’s favorite happens to be one of the houses my clients are looking at in Berkeley. This gorgeous, classic, airy, light and bright home boasts UNBELIEVABLE bay views. This 5 bedroom/3 bath, 2574 square foot home is close to the University of California - Berkeley for all you Cal fans!

1516 Euclid Ave, Berkeley is listed by Diane Mintz of Marvin Gardens East Bay

1516 Euclid Ave, Berkeley is listed by Diane Mintz of Marvin Gardens East Bay

1516 Euclid Ave is listed for $1,550,000. Want to go see it? Call me at 650-823-6390 or email me at kerry@thevermeergroup.com. I’m always happy to show my “favorite listing of the week”! As always, you can download my mobile app to see all the current, available listings on the MLS.

Kerry's Favorite Listing of the Week

How can you not LOVE my pick of the week when it has both, an ocean view and a street named Beach Drive? This week’s favorite is a 3 bedroom/2 bath, 1320 sq. ft beach front property in Aptos. Sitting directly on the sand in Rio Del Mar there is an endless beach out the back door and panoramic ocean views throughout the home.

266 Beach Drive, Aptos Listed by: Benjamin Strock of Strock Real Estate

266 Beach Drive, Aptos Listed by: Benjamin Strock of Strock Real Estate

This beach beauty on Beach Drive could be yours for $1,880,000. Want to go see it? Call me at 650-823-6390 or email me at kerry@thevermeergroup.com. I would love to show you my favorite listing of the week! Also, you can download my mobile app to see all homes currently available on the MLS.

Kerry's Favorite Listing of the Week

This week’s beauty is a remodeled 19th century home with Queen Anne & Colonial Revival styling. Top-of-the-line finishes & appliances make this home a modern dream. Enjoy modern luxury: new fixtures, appliances, floors, & marble fireplace. This 4 bedroom/ 3 bath, 2388 sq. ft house on a 12,294 sq. ft lot has it all!

601 Monroe Street, Santa Clara listed by John Faylor of the Sereno Group

601 Monroe Street, Santa Clara listed by John Faylor of the Sereno Group

610 Monroe Street is listed at $2,395,000. MLS#ML81720143 . This beautiful remodel is by De Mattei Construction and photography by Nate Donovan. WANT TO GO SEE 610 MONROE STREET? Call me at 650-823-6390 or email me at kerry@thevermeergroup.com. I would love to show you my favorite listing of the week! Also, you can download my mobile app to see all homes currently available on the MLS.