Looking to Buy Land in the Bay Area CA and build off grid or Tiny House

[Marielle Walter]

Hello all,

I am a budding real estate tycoon (or at least i like to think so!), and have so far bough one home in Washington DC that will be registered as an investment property and rented out as of September 30th 2015. I now have my sights set on the West Coast - where I would like to have a home base that I can also rent out to have the bills paid and then some. My specialty is green real estate - in DC, I have my homes on 100% wind energy, for example. In California, I want to experiment with the tiny house or sustainable building designs, on a small piece of land that gives me that flexibility. My preference would be to find a small piece of land, a lot, of maybe even half an acre, in Oakland. I've begun exploring and looks like options are limited. I am willing to open up the area of search some, but wonder if anyone knows of ways to engage current land owners, to see if they would be interested in selling a small portion of their land. Could this be a better way to go than waiting for land to come available and bidding? Any other considerations you think you should flag for me? 

Thanks in advance!

Marielle