Steve Welty Issue# 79 December 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! What a year it’s been for housing providers. Once again, California’s housing policy landscape moved at full speed, with lawmakers introducing a wide range of housing- and tenant-focused proposals. Many of these measures directly affected landlords’ day-to-day operations, costs, and legal exposure. If it’s felt hard to keep up, you’re not alone and that’s exactly why we’re here. Throughout the year, industry advocates and...
10 days ago • 3 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 78 December 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! As we look ahead to 2026, Southern California’s housing market is entering a more stable but more demanding phase. The extreme swings of recent years are easing, but affordability pressures, expanding regulation, rising insurance costs, and higher renter expectations are taking their place. I manage properties across San Diego, Orange County, and Riverside County, and these predictions are based on what we’re seeing on the...
17 days ago • 1 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 77 December 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! A new California law is arriving on January 1st, 2026, and it’s already creating confusion across the rental industry Assembly Bill 325 - California’s new restriction on “common pricing algorithms.” If you’ve seen headlines, you may have noticed dramatic claims like: “Rent pricing tools could be banned” or “Algorithms outlawed for landlords.” Today, we want to break down what the law actually says, what it targets, and most...
24 days ago • 3 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 76 November 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! Thanksgiving was this past Thursday, and before we dive into the market update, I just want to say: we’re grateful for you. This community of owners, clients, and partners is what makes Good Life what it is, and we appreciate you. Back in August, in our newsletter titled “Why Some Rentals Are Sitting Longer This Summer,” we explored a surprising trend: the typical summer leasing frenzy had started to cool. Homes that used to...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 75 November 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! If you’re thinking about selling a rental, you’ve probably heard someone say: “Don’t worry - you’ll only owe around 15% in taxes.” But once you factor in federal capital gains, California state tax, and depreciation recapture, most owners are shocked to learn their real tax bill can climb past 30%. That’s money you could be reinvesting into a stronger, more profitable asset. So we created two resources to help you understand...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 74 November 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! A few weeks ago, I spoke at the Real Estate Society at San Diego State, my old stomping grounds. The room was packed with about 75 students, all eager to hear about my journey from SDSU grad to running Good Life Property Management. The energy was incredible. These students were sharp, hungry, and curious. I told them honestly, I probably wouldn’t have gone to a meeting like that when I was their age - I was too busy playing...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 73 November 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! Most rental calculators are built for investors who already speak IRR, cap rates, and cash-on-cash fluently. But most owners don’t care about fancy acronyms. They want to know: “Is this property actually building my wealth?” So we built something different. A calculator that shows you: How much your tenant is paying off your mortgage (principal paydown) How much you’re saving in taxes every year just by owning How much your...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 72 November 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! This week, San Diego city and county officials introduced one of the most damaging housing ordinances I’ve seen in years - the Residential Rental Price Gouging, Fee Exploitation, and Cost Transparency Ordinance. If passed, it would limit what housing providers can charge for basic operational costs like parking, pest control, trash, pets, and even late fees - painting them as “junk fees.” This isn’t just bad policy. It’s a...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Steve Welty Issue# 71 October 2025 Happy Saturday, Housing Heroes! California housing providers are getting a little more flexibility and a lot more clarity when it comes to returning tenants’ security deposits. Governor Gavin Newsom just signed Assembly Bill 414 (AB 414), introduced by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D–Santa Cruz). The new law takes effect January 1, 2026, and it modernizes how deposits are returned and how itemized statements are delivered. Think of it as California’s way of...
2 months ago • 3 min read