All Forum Posts by: Jenifer Levini

Hi All,

I just want to let some of my followers know that I will be attending the SF Bay Real Estate Summit in Oakland, hosted by @J. Martin, February 16 & 17, 2019. In past years many BPers have sought me out to answer legal questions at this event. While I cant gave a lot of specific answers, especially if it requires things like reading your contracts or knowing the details of complicated transactions, I can help explain things like whether you should create new entities for your property ownership, how to form partnerships, some landlord-tenant issues and lots of other advice that is worth exactly what you're paying for it.

I'm also interested in talking about tiny homes.

I have a lot of clients on BP that Ive only met in person at this event. It's pretty fun to meet you guys face-to-face for the first time, and have lunch together.
Looking forward to seeing many of you again, 

Jen

PS. the website is sfbaysummit2019
PPS. This is not intended to be an advertisement for the event, but this website requires me to add the event info to post this.

@Michael Jones, I love Louisville! I'd love to invest there. On my last trip it looked like the city government was doing a great job building commerce and supporting businesses. This is exactly the opposite of some govt's in the Bay Area.

Hi Sarah,

I'm a real  estate lawyer here in Santa Cruz. As you probably found on your housing search many (possibly most) houses that are being sold for rental income have illegal units or rooms somewhere on the property. It's because the county has made it extremely difficult and expensive, that everyone has been forced to take this route. No one wants to be a scofflaw.

One thing to think about when choosing where to put that ADU is the utility connection fee. I think the county was charging something above $25,000 (maybe up to $50,000 if youre in Soquel water district) to hook up if the building is new. Whereas, if you turn that illegal garage unit into an ADU, and youre using the existing footprint (not adding on), there is no new hookup fees.

The rules have been changing a lot lately. So its a good idea to ask a lot of questions. If you get an answer you dont like, just call back and talk to someone else, anonymously.

The way they find out about illegal units is mostly through neighbor complaints. It's important to make sure you investigate the relationships with the neighbors before buying someone else's headaches. 

This is really creative! Thanks for sharing your story. I wonder if this would work in California where everything is over regulated.

@Ben Narro     In California, some of the credit unions offer RV loans that should cover a tiny home on wheels. May be similar in TX?? There is a company called lightstream.com offering tiny home financing starting at 4.29%. I've seen the advertisements but do not know first hand if theyre any good. If you go with them, let me know what you think.

This is a great question. And the responses are very earnest. 

For me, as a real estate lawyer and an investor, I unfortunately dont make time to check into BP very often. 

At one time, I spent more time here and it followed that I had dozens of clients who were REI in California coming from BP. Then I became the highest rated real estate attorney on Yelp for Santa Clara county, & Santa Cruz county. Then I became the recommended real estate attorney for Apple employees. (Not bragging, just explaining.)

I like to check in on BP, to pay it forward. People on here give incorrect legal advice. Some comments I read really make me cringe. That discourages my participation because i dont want to be correcting or arguing with anyone. 

Lately, it's about once every few weeks, or months. I admit that I'm still addicted to Facebook. The idea of using BP for my social network is intriguing. 

Hi @Randall Krongard,

I just wrote a book called "Building Tiny Homes Legally In California." It's being illustrated right now. Hopefully, ready for publication in early 2019!

Several teachers from high schools and universities have approached me about using it as the text book for their tiny home building classes. Does this sound like something you'd be interested in using? 

I am looking for the right publisher. And looking for ways to make it available online (it has a lot of links to other important information)

@Michael Evans, my understanding is that the law is being enforced by the Sonoma County District Attorney's office. If you have questions, you can probably call their office anonymously to ask.

A local rental property manager told me that they are actively enforcing this law.

@J Martin 

@J. Martin who would know about this?

@Chad Hale can you please be more specific about problems with Vacasa?