Moving to Ventura - Thinking of house hacking suggestions rec

[Erik Tsou]

Hi everyone, I've decided to move to Ventura CA in June. I've started my search for houses and I really want to house hack. So thus far there are couple of options that I am considering.

1) Find a house with big lot and build an ADU
- Difficult as I will be building something from ground up.
  - I don't know enough about this process so it is quite daunting
- Big Upfront cost
- Time intensive
- The ADU built would be brand new and most likely will provide good rent and increase the value of the property.   

2) Buy a duplex and fix it up. 
- Low inventory
- Non-permitted builds
- Inheriting tenants? (So far the ones I found all have tenants and it seems like not a lot is willing to deliver property vancant)
- remodeling would most likely be the cheapest.

3) Junior ADU
- Have to get creative, find floor plan that works to convert current living space to 2

4) roomates
- Least desirable to me

What have people been doing for house-hack that have been successful? 

I currently have 2 properties in mind. One is a property that has a large lot. The property itself is old and need some TLC. The location is great for me because it is close to where I will be working in Ventura, and I can take the time to build the ADU as a project. The second property I found is the same distance to work. It is a triplex with one unit non-permitted. the property is more expensive than the first and has tenants. The property has also been on the market for a while, was in escrow a couple times but fell through...I think its because of inspection issues but unfortunately I can't get a hold of the inspection report. Now the preferable way to approach this is to offer below asking and have units been delivered vacant. If that is the case, I think Property #2 will be very good since I'll probably spend 1-2 months getting problems fixed and will be able to rent out the units. (heck...I can live in the unpermitted one).

Well, any input is appreciated. 

[Tony Clark]

@Erik Tsou best of luck with the project! I just moved out of Ventura County (Thousand Oaks), and I know at least where I was the city was very welcoming of ADUs and had passed an ordinance a couple years back that allowed many single family residences to have an ADU/DADU. Might be the same with Ventura. Building an ADU is definitely costly up front, but my guess is anything that you build would provide an incredible ROI based on current market rents vs. construction costs. You might be able to either house hack a large house by living in the ADU or setting the ADU up as a short term rental. I'm currently house hacking a short term rental where I live in Nashville and the numbers are much better than they would be with a long term renter.

Anyways, I wish I could add more practical value but I hope this serves as encouragement! That's a great idea and Ventura is a beautiful area!