All Forum Posts by: Lindsey Maroun

Lou, I did that on Friday and left more confused than before I got there. They gave me a lot of speculative and hypothetical answers on what could happen instead of concrete answers. I'm going to have to go back down on Monday.

I am in the process of purchasing a home with a small studio in the back. The studio is 308 square feet, has a bathroom, no kitchen, and is attached to a 2 car garage (both studio and garage are detached for the main home).  Both the home and studio are very old and do not have permits on record due to the age.  Because the studio is so small and does not have a kitchen, it is technically added living space to the main house instead of a studio.  I want  to extend the studio into a bit of the garage space, add a kitchen, make the garage a 1 car, and get it all permitted.  The zoning map shows the home as R2, so two dwellings on the property is acceptable.  However, the Metro Bakersfield General Plan map shows the home as LR, which would make it unacceptable to have 2 dwellings on this lot. Has anyone dealt with this before?  If I didn't add any space to the studio, I could probably get it permitted because it was built prior to digital records and grand-fathered in, but I am concerned that if I add space to the studio, I may have to go by the new General Plan map.  

Sue, thanks for the advice. I plan to do exactly as you recommend while I am living in the main house. I'll just include the utilities in the rent.  I'm mostly concerned about the metering because I plan to rent out the main house in about a year, so then I'll have 2 tenants on the property. I'd like to have the tenants pay their own utilities because it would be much easier to run up bills for the main house. The studio is permitted and the property is zoned to allow for 2 units. The garage and studio are attached together, but are detached from the main house. 

I'm in the process of buying a home with a detached garage and studio in the back. I plan to live in the main home and rent out the studio. The electric and gas meters are shared, and I would like to sub-meter the property.  Has anyone does this in Bakersfield who can offer any advice or recommend a company to do this? From what I understand, I need to hire an external company (not PG&E) to come install the meters and monitor them.  Would the utilities all be in my name, but I would bill the tenant monthly for their share? 

@Account Closed, I like the idea of installing sub-meters.  That seems like it should be pretty simple to do.  The structure is separated from the main house, but it is attached to the garage (which is also separated from the main house).  Have you installed sub-meters before?  It doesn't seem too common as most people advice going directly to having each unit metered. 

I'm in the process of buying a home with a detached garage and studio in the back. I plan to live in the main home and rent out the studio. The electric and gas meters are shared. The studio has a swamp cooler and will likely not use much power or gas, so I plan to include about $50 extra per month in rent. However, I'm concerned this may be an issue when I move out and start renting out the main house. Any ideas on the best way to go out this? I'd like to have the new tenants of the main house connect the utilities in their name, but it won't be fair for them to pay the studio tenants utilities. Can I give a discount to the main home tenants and charge a bit more to the studio tenant to even this out? Is it really necessary to get the studio on it's own meter?

@Abe Osman, Chevron did a round of layoffs last spring and they are about to do another one in a couple of weeks. CRC has laid off a total of 25% of their workforce. The other major in Bakersfield in Aera, and they haven't laid anyone off, and they don't plan on it. I think the majority of the layoffs are done for now, but if the price continues to stay below $45/barrel all year, I predict more layoffs. On a more positive note, the majority of these people have expensive homes in the NW and SW that are above $200k, so I don't think that will effect the SFR investment properties I am interested in.  The oil people who are likely to rent homes around $1000/month all got laid off the end of 2014 when the oil price initially crashed, but I am not sure how long it takes for that to be reflected in the local real estate market.  I read that it took 2 years for the Bakersfield market to feel the impact of the 1980 oil crash.  I do think that the local market is going to become a lot more of a buyers market this year, which is again good for us.  Overall, the town is hurting quite a bit right now though since the oil companies are the largest tax payers int the county, and maybe even the state.   

David, I'm looking in Bakersfield too. I currently work in the oil industry, which can be very volatile, and a lot of the economics seems to be dependant on oil. I'd like to move to Atlanta too. Thanks for the encouragement to look more into Bakersfield though. It's 

David, I'm looking in Bakersfield too. I currently work in the oil industry, which can be very volatile, and a lot of the economics seems to be dependant on oil. I'd also like to move to Atlanta. Thanks for the encouragement to look more into Bakersfield though!

Thank you Ruby.  The home I am looking at is near BC. I will be sure to do a vigilant walk through!