All Forum Posts by: Franklin Marquette

Hey all,

Just wanted to introduce myself - bought a duplex in Los Feliz over the summer with a few business partners and will be renovating the property while living there. Also will be adding two ADUs in the back to turn the whole place into a 4 unit rental. Then I p;an to move out and find another project.

I am excited to join the forums and learn from the vast wealth of knowledge on here, as well as (hopefully) benefit the community with some of my own learnings.

Look forward to the journey.

Franklin

Hello all,

What have you seen re: water meters. Located in Los Angeles County (Los Feliz, 90027 zip). Property is zoned R2-1XL so pretty sure I can only have two main water meters. Right now the two units I have share one. As I transition the property to a duplex + 2 ADUs, I am considering spending $10K+ to get another master meter put in. Then think I could have 2 sub meters put in (believe the limit is 1 per main water meter). All units would be metered so data would be there to bill the tenants (so no ability to question the bill) but landlord would still pay the bill given we can not have 4 main master water meters (can only do 2 x1 master meter + x1 sub meter combinations). 

I could also just do RUBS on each of the 4 units based on # of occupants or square footage or another method (which is best???). This would not cost anything BUT tenants may be able to argue over bill more and I know RUBS has sometimes been outlawed in certain jurisdictions so would be less future proof. Also know that upon sale sometimes the presence of more water meters increases value.

Curious to understand the forum's opinion on the best water meter configuration given costs OR if it’s just not worth it and I should leave the one master meter and stick with RUBS on all 4 units. Either way, could always have the plumbers plumb the system to make it easy to put each unit on its own meter in future (so long as it’s not crazy expensive).

Unit Configurations Below for Reference:

x2 2 bed 2 bath, 800 sq ft

x1 2 bed 1 bath, 1,000 sq ft

x1 3 bed 3 bath, 2,000 sq ft

Thank you all - this is extremely helpful!

For those of you that require your tenants to have renter's insurance, how much liability insurance do you require of the tenant?

Thanks!

Hello,

I have a slightly special financing situation. Wanted to poll the group before I submitted an official lender search to see if anybody had specific folks they suggest. Any help is appreciated. Situation overview is below.

Thanks!

+++

Address: 4535 Kingswell Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027.

Property Description: Duplex. Upstairs until 2 bed 1 bath ~1,000 sq ft. Downstairs unit 5 bed 3 bath ~2,000 sq ft. Garage ~400 sq ft.

Situation: Plan to build 2 new 2 bed 2 bath ADUs in the back of the property. These will be ~700 sq ft each.

Valuation and Current Loan: Property appraised for $1,530M when purchased back in July. Currently in process of securing refi loan with US Bank at 6.25%. Loan balance will be around $1,105M. Funds tomorrow.

Ask: Looking for ~$200K second, delayed draw would be optimal, not sensitive to interest rate. Just need the financing to close funding gap on the new ADU construction. Estimate for construction is $400K, half paid with this financing the other half with cash on hand. Plan would be to refi whole property once construction is finished under one loan.

Issues: Would like the first mortgage to remain as it is at 6.25%. 4 other people own the home. I own the majority (~54%) and live in the downstairs unit. There are non-occupant co-borrowers on the first mortgage. I work in finance where a lot of my income is in a year end bonus and, unfortunately, I just started a new job so lenders are unable to use my bonus income. As a result, I will likely not qualify for a $200K second by myself and will need non-occupant co-borrowers on that as well, which is problematic for many second lien lenders.

Just wanted to follow up here, does anyone out there have any thoughts? Thanks!

Hello all,

What do folks use as lease generators and reference material for other rental-related forms? I am just getting started and only have a couple units at the moment. I have been considering joining AAGLA and know they have lease forms and other forms, but it is $199/yr.

In the next couple months, I am looking to get a standard CA NAA lease written up with RUBS for water and sewer billing and a requirement for the tenants to carry their own renters insurance policies with $100K or so (if there are recommendations around this please let me know) liability limits.

Does the community here have any advice on how best to do this and where I could get a lease form that does the trick?

Thanks!
Franklin

Thanks all for the responses. I could wait until 2025 to apply for permits if that is best. I think the one DETACHED 2 bed 2 bath ADU that is being built off a converted garage + extension is perfectly OK and there is no question there.

I think the grey area is around how you go about turning a 5 bed 3 bath existing living unit that is currently the downstairs of the main structure, into 2 2 bed 2 bath units, one of which is classified as a main unit and the other classified as a ATTACHED ADU.

I have heard there are some rules disallowing converting existing living space into ADUs that may make this difficult. Also, have heard of people turning renovated living space into "non-living rec room" which can then be converted into an ADU.

I think the number of ADUs is OK. It would be a duplex with two ADUs, so 4 units total (I do not want to go commercial). BUT the issue sits in the ATTACHED ADU.

Any advice around this attached ADU dynamic would be greatly appreciated, as I keep getting different answers depending on who I call.

Hello all,

I have a zoning question here. My property is in Los Felix (zip 90027) and is currently zoned as a R2-1XL. Its a duplex as it stands now with a garage in the back. I would like to split the downstairs unit, currently a 200 sq ft 5 bed 3 bath, into 2 2 bed 2 bath units AND convert the garage to an ADU. Effectively turning a 2 unit property into a 4 unit. Almost every property on my street is a 3+ unit property.

Now, I understand that I cannot build a quadplex due to zoning restrictions. I of course could get the property re-zoned but that is a long, tedious, and expensive process.

I called the city twice about this and both times they told me that with R2-1XL zoning I can have 3 ADUs, 2 detached and 1 attached. So, I would not be allowed to turn the property into a quadplex BUT could turn it into a duplex with two ADUs, one attached (the additional unit built downstairs) and one detached (the renovated and converted garage).

Does this sound accurate to the community here? Does anyone have experience with this? I just want to make sure that this is actually allowed before I go down this path. I know two different folks at the city said it is, but you tend to get a different answer within the city departments based on who you call and what group you call so just want to make sure there isnt any grey area here.

Thanks!

Franklin

Thank you!