All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

You could alternately look into doing a conditioned crawlspace with a "rat slab" and keep the building at grade, a lot like a basement. The crawlspace doesn't have to be bad. You're already breaking the mold by building modular. Sell it.

Yes, I've worked on modular on slab projects. I don't really understand your motivations for trying it though. What's the advantage of a slab vs. a crawlspace in your eyes? Footings and CMU aren't generally cost prohibitive. Don't you need to get below the frost line anyway? 

Here's what I've found regarding cabinets:

There are Chinese importers setting up shop all over California that seem to be importing good quality cabinets made of real wood but are limited to a few specific styles. You could see if there are similar shops in your area as well. None I've found carry flat slab cabinets which is the style I like so I've never purchased from them.
http://www.granitencabinet.com/

https://www.summit-cabinets.com/

There are companies that just do doors that go on IKEA base frames:
http://kokeena.com/

https://www.semihandmadedoors.com/

https://thecabinetface.com/

and I've actually found pretty competitive pricing from custom cabinet shops in my area when comparing to the higher end IKEA lines as well so you might as well make some calls. 

I look forward to seeing the litigation that results from this. To me it's painfully obvious the council sold out to hotel lobbyists. For full disclosure: I'm a vacation rental operator in San Diego.  

The measure the mayor put forward was nearly identical to the one that nearly passed in December before Alvarez, one of the original authors of the December measure, torpedoed it. In March Chris Ward headlined the San Diego Tourism Authority's annual meeting, a free event at the Dream Theater at Sea World that was fully catered with alcohol and had porcupines and other animals being brought out at the cocktail party following the ceremony. His about-face on the issue 3 days before the meeting was perfectly timed to catch everyone off guard. Before that the Mayor's plan was thought to have the 5 votes needed to be codified and in my opinion it was a fair compromise. Limiting vacation rentals to a primary residence + one additional permit per operator would weed out a lot of folks who wouldn't bother with the new regulations and nearly $1,000 annual licensing fee. The meeting on Monday was a complete charade with the backroom dealing that occurred beforehand. The mayor's plan didn't stand a chance.

According to the the U-T the largest amount of new housing units built in a year in the last five years was 6,400, while the projected need is between 17-24,000 units. There are 11,000 vacation rentals in San Diego. 

ABC 10 News interviewed Nathan Moeder, principal with real-estate analytical firm London Moedor Advisors, said even upwards of 10,000 homes coming onto the market would not significantly lower prices in supply crunched San Diego.

"We need about 12,000 units a year just to keep going, and we're in the hole about 20,000 or 30,000 since the last recession," he said. "So even if all of them hit the market at once, it's not enough to make a big impact."

If the reason housing is becoming increasingly less affordable in coastal areas isn't obvious the last several quarterly reports from Berkadia spell it out as clear as day:

Housing affordability is unlikely to change with this ban. I saw an estimate that 80% of San Diego's visitor accommodations come from whole home vacation rentals. Our ability to host conventions and other large events such as Comic Con will be seriously impacted by this if it holds.

There are state mandated density bonus regulations for providing affordable housing in developments. Doesn't matter what the area caters to

I wouldn't count on it. In my market solar does not comp. Especially with properties attempting to convey solar loans. 

The Vacant Land Purchase Agreement from the California Association of Realtors has a "lack of compliance with any governing documents or HoA requirements. But more importantly has an out for "conditions and influence of significance to certain cultures and/or religions , and personal needs, requirements and preferences of Buyer." Yours probably does too?

17 BUYERS INVESTIGATION OF PROPERTY AND MATTERS AFFECTING PROPERTY:

L. NEIGHBORHOOD, AREA AND PROPERTY CONDITIONS: Neighborhood or area conditions, including Agricultural Use Restrictions pursuant to the Williamson Act (Government Code §§51200-51295), Right To Farm Laws (Civil Code §3482.5 and §3482.6),schools, proximity and adequacy of law enforcement, crime statistics, the proximity of registered felons or offenders, fire protection, other government services, availability, adequacy and cost of any speed-wired, wireless internet connections or other telecommunications or other technology services and installations, proximity to commercial, industrial or agricultural activities, existing and proposed transportation, construction and development that may affect noise, view, or traffic, airport noise, noise or odor from any source, abandoned mining operations on the Property, wild and domestic animals, other nuisances, hazards, or circumstances, protected species, wetland properties, botanical diseases, historic or other governmentally protected sites or improvements, cemeteries, facilities and condition of common areas of common interest subdivisions, and possible lack of compliance with any governing documents or Homeowners' Association requirements, conditions and influences of significance to certain cultures and/or religions, and personal needs,requirements and preferences of Buyer.

Things I'd suggest including is investigation of services and feasibility of connection to public services specifically. Specific requirements of the fire marshall that will impede development, such as requirement of a hammerhead for fire engine turnaround.

Title insurance covers undiscovered easements and deed restrictions. As far as I know if Title can't dig it up and it's later found they're on the hook. Check your specific title policy. 

I'm in the thick of this as well. Good luck to you!

I've done this successfully. Lender limited me to 10% of total development cost to be treated as equity. There are many banks in my area that do this and I have many colleagues that do this regularly. We're all using institutional financing. It's a part of every proforma I put together.  

If you're attempting to do this before permit issuance the  issue for the bank is if you get hit by a bus who completes the drawings? Having an entitled project offsets that risk

I've been using Amazon subscriptions for common items I need to replenish within my rentals for several months now and it's mostly been working well. I've coupled it with Amazon Key in order for the Amazon deliveries to be delivered directly inside a garage I dedicated for storage. I basically estimate how often I'll need the item and adjust it from there. In instances where there's an immediate need for something I'm not also using Instacart to quickly get items to my cleaners or my guests. For specialized items I've used Postmates to deliver things so I don't have to make the trek such as a mini-fridge, coffee-maker and hair dryer on separate occasions - all from Target. 
 
Yourporter, a messaging automations service I detailed above now has a permanent link for my cleaners with a 15 day outlook of checkouts. I now also automate an email that gets sent to my cleaners at 7AM daily with the following day's checkouts so there are no surprises. This update has made it immensely more valuable as far as I'm concerned. Creating the cleaner's schedule weekly was one of my larger annoyances.

You should check out the thread on my project. I'd stick with the Architecture degree. Good luck!