Echo Park’s Top Restaurants of 2016 – How Close is Your Investment Property to Them?

One of the most important aspects of any business is knowing your customer.

As gentrification, high entry-level home prices and shortage of apartment inventory all contribute to changing tenant demographics in Echo Park, Highland Park and Boyle Heights (just to name a few), as an apartment owner it is your job to keep up to date with these changes and what is attractive to your new customer/renter.

If you have a vacancy in a rent control apartment building – congratulations!  Cha-ching!

Rents have been increasing in double digit numbers you may be EXTREMELY SURPRISED at how high rents are (please call me for a free rent survey!).  Now it’s time to re-rent your unit.  Some owners prefer to price their apartments just below the market so as to have ample choice of qualified applicants and the ability to be very selective and ideally find a long term tenant.  While other owners are taking the opportunity to complete a full interior remodel and to re-rent for top dollar.  Regardless of where you fall in this spectrum, you must first identify your customer and then make sure you are adding value to your building by improving it in ways that will give you the best return on your investment.  (Remember: higher rents mean higher building value!)  One very simple and FREE way of obtaining the highest rent possible is marketing – or how you advertise the property for rent.

Do you include photos?  How many? Are they professional quality of a clean, well lit and a maybe even staged unit?  Do you give a complete description of the property, it’s square footage, amenities, parking, common areas, improvements, and more?  Is it easy for a potential renter to come view the unit?  Do you advertise the apartment’s proximity to local hotspots, Walkscore and proximity to other attractions?

Here are Echo Park’s top restaurants (in no particular order) according to LA Weekly:

Button Mash: 1391 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Gigi’s Bakery and Café: 2200 W. Temple St, Historic Fillipinotown

Ostrich Farm: 1525 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Masa: 1800 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Elf Café: 2135 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Winsome: 1115 Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Guisados: 1261 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Pizza Buona: 922 N. Alvarado, Ste C, Echo Park

Mohawk Bend: 2141 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Dinette: 16081/2 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park

Have you tried any of these hotspots or basked in the glory of $12 avocado toast?  If you’re feeling adventurous, next time you’re at your building, why not stop and try one of the newer spots?  Or, if you’re like me, you may opt for a tried and true “old school” joint like Celaya Bakery or La Caridad.  Just please, don’t ask me to meet you at a Mc Donalds to write up an offer – it’s 2017 and we have SO many more options now (including Docusign)!

What are YOUR favorite restaurants in Echo Park?

(Also file under: Where to eat before a Dodger game)