All Forum Posts by: Jerry Murphy

You can get a fair idea of how powerful entrenched interests are in cities by how the cities react to things like uber / airBNB, (or how beholden the politicians are).  Basically, cities that want small businesses and individuals to thrive will let people experiment with new ways of doing business.  The moderate ones just want a little tax revenue and a few mild regulations like no hosting wild orgies after 10 pm. The ones that are beholden to the hotels and hotel workers unions, like Anaheim and Santa Monica, here in California will ban citizens from using their home to make a few extra bucks. 

So have a back out plan if your city is not supportive of homeowners.  Can the property be resold easily? Can it be used for a medium term rental to traveling nurses or business people? Can you convert to a long term rental? If the back up plan is OK and the city is not too bad then go for it. 

Hello,

I have an Aiea townhouse. A few years back we enclosed the two car garage. We added a bathroom shower and kitchenette (no stove).  The contractor is gone. I live out of state and do not have blueprints. 

I want to get permits to turn the added units into an ADU (accessory dwelling unit). If I try to get a permit will the government of Honolulu make my life hell? I have heard urban legends of people who have had to move their tenants out and tear down the repairs and start over, and pay for demolition permits and all sorts of craziness. But the stories are all from 'someone who knew someone' or 'someone heard once'. In a sane world, the government would say thanks for helping to relieve the housing shortage that we caused with our terrible policies.

Has anyone gotten an 'after the fact' permit? If so, how horrible was it?   

I googled Lloyd Segal. I think others should google him too before spending money on his course. 

@Account Closed Where do you find these people who will sell subject to?

I don't. I never really thought about it.  I rent a place in Hawaii. It has an electric stove, no indoor parking, no heater, no fireplace. There is no fuel source to create carbon monoxide.  I do provide smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. 

It is a good idea. It at least puts the appraiser on notice that you did some research.  My appraiser ignored a sale in an identical size and shape unit in my building that was $50K higher than his appraisal. I asked and he said he hadn't seen it. It was sold about a month earlier and I showed him the selling price.  He was surprised.  I know he had just used a couple of sales that he had been using for a while from my building. The next time I worked with him he appraised my place a bit higher than I expected. 

When I approached him I did it in a real friendly manner. I was excited to talk about real estate and wanted his input.  I didn't approach him like 'hey, what's your problem?' It was more like 'hey there is some really neat stuff going on, can you believe it?' 

I am thinking of buying a property in Indio to use as a vacation rental.  Ideally it will be a 4 bdr with a pool that will be ready to rent by early April. I think I can break even for the year on a few of the big weekends - Coachella & Stagecoach. But I would like to make some money. Does anyone know what kind of occupancy rates Indio has?

Nearby Palm Springs has an incredibly high occupancy rate - so high that the local government is capping it at about 36 rentals per year.  That would be 75% if I did weekly rentals. I doubt Indio has anything like that but I haven't seen any reliable data. Does anyone know where to find this information?

Drew, Culver City is part of LA County but not part of LA City. They say i need to comply with the Culver City Municipal Code  not the LA City Code.  So I can't go to Van Nuys DOB.  Culver is great little nook in LA. They have good schools, reasonable cops and a small town feel, but there are a few petty tyrants in the government who have too much discretion and not enough oversight. 

Hi Manolo, I looked at your profile.  You look like you really know what you are doing.  I probably could use someone who maybe is focused on smaller jobs.  This is a simple conversion of a small condo.  Someday I'd like to do more but I want to see if I can do this right first. I wasn't promising work, just thinking this is a value adding idea that could be repeated a several times in my neighborhood. 

I agree that the law does not require a contractor.  The guy who approves the permits in Culver City seems to reject everyone. My wife has been going to the office for me.  She said he rejected everyone who applies for a permit when she was there.  First he said we needed an architect so we got one. Next, he said to get our condo associations approval.  The condo association wanted a structural engineer to sign off on it.  So we got that.  She went back yesterday and they gave her a form asking for the name of the contractor. I don't plan of doing it myself so I'll get one if I need one.  

Thanks Drew, I'll give them a call. 

Hello,  This is my first post here on BP. I need a recommendation for a small contracting job. I have a patio that I want to turn into a bedroom in my culver city condo. I have the architect drawing, the structural engineer approval and approval from the condo association.  The city wants me to have a contractor before they sign off on it.  The job is small but we also may want additional work if the price is good.  Long term, if my plan to turn the two bedroom into a three bedroom works then I am going to do this with a few more condos in the next few years. 

I have not hired a contractor in LA before. I would appreciate any recommendations.