How to find if a property is rent controlled? (LA Areas not in ZIMAS)
I recently got a job as an LA based real estate analyst. I'm having a nightmare of a time finding if certain properties are rent controlled.

ZIMAS works amazing if it is in LA city boundaries for zoning and rent control info. But the greater Los Angeles Area, including Orange County, is waaaaaaay larger than LA 'City' boundaries. Like 3 or 4 times larger!!

EDIT: Solved

Solution:

3 cities not in ZIMAS are rent controlled; West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills. If it is in one of those 3 the date built can be used to determine if it is rent controlled. If it is not in one of those 3, then either it is in ZIMAS and I can find if it is rent controlled there, or if it is not in ZIMAS then it cannot be rent controlled. 
[{"id": "efzwzpd", "text": "Not many cities in LA are rent controlled. I believe it is only Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, City of LA, and unicorporated LA county. Are you finding examples of rent controlled properties outside of these areas? Also, just call city planning departments of these random cities. They are very helpful to answer any questions about zoning related issues, just cause it really isn't the most straight forward thing. Good luck, as a general rule, 1978 and below built is rent control in the cities I mentioned.\n\n", "replies": [{"id": "eg2wcez", "text": "Thank you! This is the correct answer!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eg1din7", "text": "Google \u201ccity name\u201d rent control. If an ordinance exists, look at the specifications and see if the property meets it. The ZIMAS tool is unique and should not be your expectation for other cities.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eg2kbb3", "text": "This isn't relevant to your question...but how do you like your job as a RE analyst? What does it entail?", "replies": [{"id": "eg2u2jo", "text": "I liked you asked this question. I only got the job 3 months ago but its a good time to reflect. So I'm gonna throw a lot of info at you. \n\nFirst,  I came from an accounting job before this. Which I hated as a job even though I liked it quite a lot as a major. So in a way I might not be the best person to ask. \n\nI'd also point out I'm at a good place to be a real estate analyst all things considered; a real estate private equity firm. Healthy pay, nice office. There are real estate analyst for all types of institutions, brokers, banks, etc. I'm not sure if I'd like the other ones as much. I very much like being on the buy side. I did investment banking sell side internship and frankly hated it. Very superficial imo. All about the presentation. Did pick up some good tricks though. \n\nNow having confessed all of that; I do like my current job. I'm looking at multiple properties everyday. Always focused on the profitability and return of such deals. Always trying to find the hidden or unhidden key facts that make a property a great or terrible investment. Finding new ways to improve my analysis, speed, and efficiency so I can get to the best deals faster is also satisfying. In general it is a job I feel I constantly get to learn a lot since I get to constantly analyze different sets of circumstances and I'm at liberty to try and figure how to do everything better. In a way I consider it part of the job.  \n\nSometimes I'm asked to do analysis on potential development/redevelop opportunities. Some parts of gathering the data is repetitive but doing the proper financial analysis once you have the data is more of problem solving exercise that I enjoy. You can sometimes find creative solutions or opportunities to make something that looked no good turn a healthy profit. Be creative and clever has a place because often you find the most value in a deal by finding potential value that the sellers themselves don't see. \n\nExample; someone is selling a really crap old 3 unit bungalow property... not realizing it sits on a R1.5 zoned lot with a Toc tier 2 modifier that means it could be redveloped into an 8 or 9 units building. The cost of building it is the same as the cost of the land with the 3 crap units but the yearly income could be 10x greater... Or maybe it is a quick rehab and flip deal, or a long term hold for income investment. Different strategies need to be applied depending on the circumstances. What looked like a terrible deal with one strategy takes on a whole different light with another. \n\nAlways focused on the profitability and return of such deals. Always trying to find the hidden or unhidden key facts that make a property a great or terrible investment. Finding new ways to improve my analysis, speed, and efficiency so I can get to the best deals faster is also satisfying. In general it is a job I feel I constantly get to learn a lot since I get to constantly analyze different sets of circumstances. Which is satisfying. \n\nThere is a sort of a thrill of a hunt to I guess. While half the stuff I look for is given to me by bosses/senior analyst the other half I find myself. Finding something really good or clever = big commission on top of the salary. Raises my status in general in the firm and the eyes of the managing Execs. So yea I liked having a job where my performance matters and I get rewarded for it without it being entirely commission based at all.  \n\nThe downsides are there though. For one it can be pretty fast paced when the seller has a set date for reviewing offers on a deal the company is very interested in. Sometimes you will get average 8 hours work days, but quite often you will be staying late to get the best quality analysis you can do on the desk of the boss as soon as humanly possible. Other than seller offer review deadlines the first one to the deals is as important as finding them sometimes. Other times they give you something they see as huge and want it done yesterday. So you are going to stay late several nights if necessary hashing out all the details and potential scenarios. Still, having done an IB internship, it isn't as bad as that was. At least I haven't had to stay till 2 AM or sleep on a couch. And Fridays are almost always like 8 1/2 hr days max. \n\nIn some ways the expectations are very high. Your analysis needs to be spot on. You can't be Fing with the money of the investors and owners. Unlike the IB place where I worked where presentation was god and king; they could give a F about the presentation here. At least for the analyst. The models we use are ugly as F and I'm always itching to rebuild them in a more presentable. But I guess the point is all they care about is the accuracy and completeness of facts and analysis. Which I like a lot more than being presentation/sale focused even if the butt ugly presentation of their current models makes me cringe. It is my ambition to rebuild them an make them see the light though.  \n\nYou will spend a lot of time in an office staring at screens and spreadsheets of numbers. And you also better like using Excel. Luckily I do. Excel is capable of some pretty rad stuff. It can also be a little discouraging when you are finding nothing for days or even weeks that fits the bill of the high returns we target. So you have to have a little determination, tenacity, and stomach for the grind too I guess for those dry spells. \n\nNetworking with brokers and people with specialist knowledge of certain types or niches of commercial business properties is also kind of an important aspect of the business in many ways. Nursing home? Self storage? Parking facility? Better find a Guru for all of those and take them out to lunch to figure out what is realistic and doable for something you are currently trying to be clever with. It is very interesting to learn in these situations from these specialists. However making small talk exclusively for business reasons and trying to get them to like you so you can get more information to arm yourself can obviously feel a little ingenuine sometimes. And then you might have to maintain the relationship because you might need them again. While the information is fascinating and it is all unavoidable in order to do the job as best as possible it is one of the parts I dislike the most I guess. \n\n\n", "replies": [{"id": "eg3iw9y", "text": "Wow, thank you for that write up. I'm also in LA wanting to break into the CRE industry myself. My family invests in older CRE where I grew up (adjacent to LA County) with the opportunity to develop mixed-use in 10-15+ years. I'm about to graduate law school this May and will be taking the Bar. Rather than practicing RE law, I was pondering whether I should look into RE analyst or other similar positions in the industry where I can familiarize myself with either the analysis, lending, compliance of the RE process.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]