All Forum Posts by: Jenifer Levini

Yay! Good for you for getting an attorney before you need her. This will save you lotsa money in the long run!

If it has a house plus lots of property around the house, that could work too.

Hi,

I'm looking for a property, residential or commercial, empty land or with a tear-down something, in Watsonville, CA. 1 acre or larger. In the city limits or possibly just outside the city limits. If you know of anything, please contact me.

Thanks!

Jen

Hi Matthew,

There is a REI group that meets monthly in Petaluma. Its organized through meetup. See you there.

Jen

Tiny homes and traditional trailers are made of different things. tiny homes are made of wood, granite, tile... RVs are made from plastic and cardboard. RVs are a lot lighter. Tiny houses are more solid. Tiny homes are made to live in 365 days/year for many years. RVs are made to live in for a week or so, maybe a few weeks per year. Currently tiny homes building is a lot more labor intensive because there arent factory lines for manufacturing. It's usually a few builders hand crafting each one. If youre looking for the cheapest way to live, its definitely not a tiny house. A used RV is much cheaper. Most people who are looking at tiny houses arent looking for the cheapest way to get shelter. They want a sustainable lifestyle that includes using fewer resources, in a home made of natural materials, often off-the-grid. Our website at wishomes.us had an essay about the advantages on tiny house living, if youre interested.

can you please send pix to [email protected]

Strangely there are no street-view shots on google maps.

Here's my two cents. Whether or not its worth it depends on the income from the rent versus the cost to build and cost of the real estate. Rather than researching conventional rentals, if you look up the break even for people who build RV Parks, the common belief is that break even point is when you have 100 spaces occupied in an RV park. It breaks even and maybe even makes money. Based on this, adding one to a property is a money loser.

In California adding a tiny home to a property is illegal in almost every county. I'm jealous of all of you living in places without zoning. What a concept!!

Jen

Hi @Gayle Eisner, Did you ever figure this out?

Depending on where your property is located in Los Gatos, it could be Santa Cruz or Santa Clara Counties. Depending on which one you'll want to look up the zoning on the property, and read the rules and exceptions for that zoning in the county's General Plan.

Right now, my understanding is that Tiny Homes are illegal to move onto a residential zoned property in every county in California except Fresno with some very strict exceptions. There is also a way around this if the property is a designated  mobile home or RV park by the State of California, and this use is approved by the county.
I am in the process of working toward this designation for land outside Los Gatos to build a Tiny Home Village. Its a lot of work and very expensive. Luckily I dont have to pay the legal fees because I'm a lawyer. Otherwise it would be cost prohibitive.

After I get the first one under way, I have plans for others throughout the State, because as you mentioned, housing is in tight supply and very expensive. @Lee Ripma, our third village will be in San Diego County. We are looking at North County area. And would love feedback and ideas!!

Please join my Meetup group if youre interested in any way.

http://www.meetup.com/We-are-developing-a-tiny-hom...

Jen

@Mark Silva yes, Tiny homes range from around 80' to 400'. Some people call homes up to 1000' tiny homes. Those larger ones wont be the in our village as we are sticking to two of the definitions provided by The State of California, Housing and Community Development Department.
There are lots of TV shows on TLC, HGTV, and DIY channels about Tiny Homes, Tiny Home Living, trying to stuff families into tiny homes, building tiny homes, buying tiny homes and more. And I saw an advertisement for producers who are creating a few more of these "unscripted" shows coming up.

Hello fellow bay area residents, 

I wanted to let you know about the first tiny home village under development. We will be holding  meetup next weekend. Hope you can make it.
http://www.meetup.com/We-are-developing-a-tiny-home-village-btwn-Santa-Cruz-SJ/