All Forum Posts by: Jon Schwartz

Hi all, 

I just want to know if there is a permit required if I have a vacation rental in Los Angeles California? Now here’s the thing I want to have vacation rentals that are 30-day minimums. Thanks in advance for the help!

Best,

Gulliver

I have a condo in downtown LA that I'm considering marketing as a corporate rental. The building HOA has a restriction on STR under 30 days but terms over 30 days are fine - so I was thinking of medium-term corporate rental.

Does anyone have suggestions of who to contact to market a corporate rental? I know there are agencies that do this, are there any you would recommend?

On the BiggerPockets podcast, we're frequently told that if you find the deal, the money will easily follow. Are they saying this because it's a seller's market?

Next year when the housing market turns into a buyer's market, are they going to tell us that if you have the money, the deal will easily follow?

Or is this a rule of thumb that will always work out? (If you find the deal, the money will easily follow)

By "deal", I'm referring to a property that meets the 70% rule.

The proposed strategy: Buy an SFR -lets say a 4 bed/ 2 ba house -1600 square feet ...subdivide interior to convert to 3bed/2 ba @1000 square feet plus a 1bed/1ba @ 600 square feet Jadu unit--rent out both units ---refi ...take repair money out -repeat -longterm hold strategy Cost to do this should be much less than converting a garage to jadu or building a detatched adu

Why is nobody talking about this?????????

Can someone point out the advantages and disadvantages to this strategy

Are there any Lenders who would do the refi cash out in California on this type of project??

Are there any podcasts of success stories on this topic on bp.com??

Please help

Thanks

How is the laws in California for landlord and how worse are they from other states like Texas and Florida. What are your experience ? ?

 That is a very good question, not sure if the law deciphers between current usage or not. I would guess not simply because how could they track usage change (legal or otherwise) to circumvent the law? Great question, I am really not sure of the answer here.

Per my understanding of the CA laws, Junior ADU's can only be done on single family lots and no, they did not waive the owner occupancy law to encourage investment. The law specifically states that in the JADU situation, the owner must occupy either the primary home or the JADU, no exceptions. The law was enacted to increase housing supply, though I think this is not the real answer, just the politicians grandioso ideas.

Hey BP!

I’ve googled this and asked around but I’ve found the forums here on BP are always a good source of advice with a lot of diverse perspectives.

TLDR: How do I determine if the potential unpermitted garage conversion on a duplex building I have under contact will definitely be able to be permitted in accordance with the city zoning rules? Who should I ask/bring in to get a conclusive answer about this? What else can I do to reduce my risk of not being able to get it permitted?  

So the long version is that I have a detached duplex (3BR/2BA and 1BR/1BA structures) under contract in Southern California right now that’s being offered as-is. The interesting part about this property is that I’ve been told that the garage has also been converted into a living space, which would mean that it has an extra 1BR/1BA unit. And apparently someone pays what looks like 60% of the rent for the other 1BR/BA unit for this area right now, so I assume it must be decently livable. I haven’t been able to get inside any of the units yet but my inspection is tomorrow. The seller’s agent is a part time agent and both he and the sellers seem to be very disorganized and old fashioned (they signed the offer by hand and faxed it back) and I don’t think they've done much to the property besides take off window awnings since they bought it a little over two years ago.

So I think there’s a large potential upside here because if I’m able to get the likely unpermitted garage conversation properly permitted and bring it up to code as needed, 1) it’d increase the total rent substantially and 2) it’d go from a duplex to a triplex which would be a great equity gain someday when I sell. (I’m also not sure why the current owner hasn’t done this but I’m trying to find that out. Either it wasn’t permittable on this property or they just didn’t want to invest the time/money in going through the process.) I’ve asked the city some vague and general questions about the process for getting unpermitted construction permitted after the fact and have an outline of the process from them so it seems like that part is possible.

However, the risk is that I don't want to find out just after after I've closed that getting the garage permitted as an ADU on this property would be out of code and therefore not allowed. It wouldn't totally kill the numbers but it would make it a lot more expensive to live there for a couple of years from a cash flow perspective. But the property would be a really sweet deal if I could make it into a triplex so that's obviously my goal. Plus California has a housing shortage as everyone know so a new unit in the city would be a good thing!

SO the question is, how do I mitigate the risk of not being able to get the garage area permitted as much as possible in the next week when my inspection contingency is open (and I have to make this decision)? Who do I talk to or bring in to conclusively determine if the property is eligible for an ADU under city zoning rules? And then also to make sure the 1BR/1BA unit isn't already counted as an ADU (since you can't have two ADUs for one single family unit).

I'm a bit wary of asking the city about this property directly because I'm not sure how they'd handle that and I don't want to make trouble for the current owner if indeed it is an unpermitted unit. I've also looked up and read the ADU zoning ordinances that I could find for the city and that was inconclusive. I'm going to try and pull permits tomorrow morning to see what I can find there too. Any other ideas BP? Anything else I should be watching out for here?

Hi BPers! I own a small 6 unit multifamily in Santa Monica CA. My neighbor recently informed me that they may have to sell the slightly larger (8 unit) multi next door. Im considering making an offer before it goes public.

This purchase could be a great addition to my portfolio for several reasons. There should be decent cash flow and appreciation and it being directly next to my other property makes it much easier to manage.

My question is: How, if possible, can I predict what kind of added value there is in having a double lot? 

My thought is that at some point down the road it may be worth much more to a developer who wants to build larger. Ive seen this done on my block and in other areas.

Any thoughts on this would be great! Thanks!!

You're going to say no personal offense intended and then double down?

Like a few million or more or more of my voting neighbors, I'm part of the electorate that is loudly opposed to the assault on women's rights. I'm part of the electorate whose lines are gerrymandered so as to protect the entrenched power and dilute my vote. I'm part of the electorate who is putting OUR money where YOUR  mouth is. You've just painted me and the entire state as though we are of one political accord. It's insulting to millions and if you had any self awareness, you would be embarrassed to have identified yourself as a simpleton.

Bigger Pockets is not the place to make your big brave stand. It's not the place, little napoleon.