All Forum Posts by: Tracy P.

@Katie Pratt Thanks for organizing! It was great to meet you. I had to take off before getting your contact info, but could you contact me (on mailing list) or by colleague request here so I can follow up re property in Sonoma?

Hi @Chelsie Running, Great to meet you too! Thanks for weighing in, that's helpful to hear. I'm not in incorporated Sonoma and so there are a number of vacation rentals on my street too. I did live right off the Plaza for a number of years though and you can't beat the location for walkability! I miss Tues night markets.

J. Martin , I just found your 3,000th post saying that you've been doing this since 2011. That's even more incredible! And point taken about sacrificing to pursue what you want-- I've done that before ($$$ in student loans and years in grad school) and am willing to do that now. Really appreciate the support. I will take a look at the Marin meetup too and get myself out there. Sounds like @Adam Menconi and @Bill Bockwoldt are great resources so I will do my prep work. Re the use permit, you hit the nail on the head. Right now the property has the most mass-market appeal so I'm not touching anything. Removing it is absolutely much easier than getting it. Thanks for the guidance on building the "vision" for someone else too, I have pretty decent contacts in the architecture/building industry and can probably get some good feedback and estimates too. For multifamily I initially thought about starting with residential as it would be my primary residence; however I am still educating myself on commercial multifamily and it is quite attractive from a financing and market stability perspective. I'm also really liking the idea of finding an experienced partner or consortium to do deals with so that I can come up the learning curve with guidance. The forum's a great resource and I can already tell I'll be spending a good portion of my time on here.

Hi J. Martin , Thanks for the warm welcome, and the wealth of info! Congrats on your newfound freedom! That's an impressive, and inspirational track record you have. I'd like to be even a fraction of the way there in 10 years, so am looking forward to learning more from the trailblazers out there. The Bay Area is definitely a unique market, but it's home so I figure I'll try my hand here first. For the multifamily, yes, I would plan on living in one unit. But I'm definitely leaning heavily towards renting for a while while doing my diligence. On my Sonoma property, highest and best use would be something light commercial like a tasting room. I actually designed it for entertaining with a double-height great room and mezzanine that looks over into the main space; there is also an art studio with separate entrance that could easily be a 1-bd. I haven't explored condo conversions or anything like that as it involves a more sophisticated market understanding that I don't have yet. There is also half the parcel left that could be buildable with a retaining wall, but I didn't want or need that space for my SFR. It would actually be much easier if I didn't live there since removing the use permit (which is very easy) makes the zoning the primary use determinant, and expands opportunities for all sorts of other things. Glad you feel the same way about LEED Gold-- I have the checklist all signed off with the points calculated, but didn't think it was worth it to pay for full certification. My sense is the easiest thing would be to market it as residential to a buyer who might want to live in it and then later make it commercial. But I'm willing to put in some work to validate assumptions before taking a big step, so here I am. Hope your summer in Seattle is going well and look forward to meeting you and others at future meetups! I have a work conference that overlaps with the Summit but will be looking into travel arrangements to see if I can make the tail end at least. Cheers, Tracy

Thanks Diana! I've signed up and am looking forward to the meetup.

I did new construction for my own home on a completely vacant half acre a couple years ago. Time is not on your side, you need to have everything nailed down as much as possible before even thinking about the construction loan. They require bids from your contractor, which basically means that you need to have not only the design (architecture and engineering fees need to be paid upfront), but also foundation/excavation, permitting, utility pole, sewer connection, trenching, etc. all baked into your final number. Keep in mind that after the bid is in, any changes result in change fees which is where a lot of money is made. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but you can definitely minimize it by being really comfortable with your original plan, and where you will cut the fat when (not if) you need to. Then, the construction loan is only very short term so you need to make sure you have solid contractor who can get things done on a timeline. My construction loan specified 24 months and then exorbitant interest would get charged, so you definitely want to be in a conventional loan before that deadline. Start with the planning dept and go from there. In CA it's a complete maze so be prepared to spend a lot of time getting bounced around. Take it one step at a time, and expect everything to take twice as long and twice as much money as quoted, and you'll be ok. Good luck!

Hi BP, I'm Tracy and I fell into real estate development a few years ago when I couldn't find a house I wanted to buy. I did, however find an empty half acre lot in wine country, in a great neighborhood. It was zoned light commercial, but after going through a long process with the county, I was allowed to build on it using a use permit, and keep the light commercial zoning. After another interesting process with a construction mortgage and then rolling it over into a traditional mortgage, I now have a passive solar, LEED gold compliant house that I meant to live in for the next 50 years... But life happens, and to be closer to family (and also minimize my commute to my day job in biotech) I think I am going to put my current house on the market and look for a multifamily property closer to Albany/Berkeley or on the peninsula. This time I am not looking to do new construction from the ground up! I've been listening to the podcasts for a while and am looking forward to meeting more people in the community and learning even more. If you have advice/tips on commercial real estate/investors in wine country, or MF investments in the east bay, I'm all ears! Thanks, Tracy

+1, following for more info