SF Bay Area Condo Conversion?

[Matthew Bailey]

Hello!  I live in the SF bay area, renting half a duplex in Sunnyvale ($2500/mo) and I'd like to find some way to live in this area long term buy obviously I've got to be clever about it.  (I have a girlfriend who doesn't want roommates so buying and renting the rooms is off the table and of course we need to be on the same page.)  A duplex/multifamily could work but the tenant friendly laws in the bay area have me concerned that an extended eviction process would kill any reserves and risk losing the property.  I've been considering learning more about a condo conversion (ideally with a partner who has done condo conversions) in the past.  I don't have the cash but I've been actively investing with my vacant land business for over 2 years now, so the hustle isn't an issue.  I'd be willing to live in it which appears to have some benefits for a condo conversion depending what town you're in.

The thought being that we could buy a duplex/triplex/quad, convert it to a condo, and sell off the remaining units leaving me with (at the end of the day) an affordable housing option.

Here are the condo zoning laws that I found for Sunnyvale: https://www.huduser.gov/portal...

My understanding is that they don't do condo conversions with <3% rental vacancy rate, but it looks like it was 3.1% from the most recent HUD market analysis for my area that I could find: https://www.huduser.gov/portal...

Does anyone know someone who has done a condo conversion in the Bay Area?  I'd be open to most towns in the south bay, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Cupertino, etc.  Both myself and my GF work in MV so if the numbers work we'd like to stay nearby.