All Forum Posts by: Henry W.

I am working with an architect on an 11,000 sf R1 lot I have in Los Angeles CA90065 

He says he can build two houses on the lot due to the size. Is he correct? I have the topographic survey done and Ideally I would like to build two houses with the hope of selling one to pay for the construction . The contract he wants me to sign describes the second house as an assessory dwelling unit and I am concerned that I won't be able to sell one of the houses when he is done. Can someone tell me what applies as he seems to have changed what he has already told me 

Thanks

I bought a 2500sf building in Inglewood in 2012 for $160K but even before this news I had been told my building was now worth $450K . I think its going to have a negative impact as I am having alot of small businesses looking for new office space due to their rent hike

@John 

@John Blackman thank you for sharing. You initially projected $396k for both sides, but if I am right the figures overrun to $650K. I get the impression that its the finance that main contributor of the price overrun. While I like the idea of ifunding and have various lots which I would like to raise money to develop. Am I right in thinking that I can get a better return for my money by investing in projects on ifunding  rather than getting involved in the stress and uncertainty of developing my lots. 

In your next project would you still use ifunding?  I have seen scenarios where projects are sold off plan and I have bought a few houses off plan and financed the project so that the worry of finance would be down to the purchaser and not the developer. Is this a scenario that could potential be more suitable?

@Manolo just to clarify, I am not looking for a market of sales but rather that of rental. I only have about 10 vacant lots where I can have these Tiny Homes. So my max rental will 10 Tiny Homes. Once built I will proceed to lease them out to artists and vacationers that want to get away for 2 to 3 days or even a week at a time. I would be open to selling Tiny Homes but it is not my priority and to do that it would be easier for me to just connect with the distributorship of an established Tiny Home manufacturer where I could pick them for as little as at $8500 a piece

I could still work with socalcottages as I have a large commercial lot where they could be parked up for immediate purchase. For either one of the business models I would need a full time staff to man the display units for sale or to provide keys for the rental units for lease. I think it would be very much like an RV leasing centre where the only difference is the units on my lots are likely to be stationary. 

I have had to take this path due to the nasty brush clearance estimates on my lots which together with property taxes are making land banking a rather expensive venture. 

Hi Blake, there is a chap building quite a few in San Bernadino, http://mybunkhouses.com he only builds them on Trailers which cost quite a bit at $6,000. He's never built one directly on the site but his finished price comes to about $25K to $70K which I think is on the high side. So personally I think it will be better to hire someone full time that can do my  builds from start to finish. He says it takes him 30days to finish one, if thats the case then I can do 12 a year although I dont know how many people are helping him. I could lease out the finished display ones at a daily rate or simply sell it.

Were you going to do the builds yourself or did you have someone in mind that could do it? I would much rather someone do it for labour cost alone so that I could put the materials on the credit card. I even have a large commercial lot where these could be built and displayed in larger numbers. What did you have in mind? Perhaps we can collaborate. 

To answer your question whether code allows it. An extract from LA code website states 

"One-story detached accessory buildings used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses, provided the gross floor area does not exceed 120 square feet, the height does not exceed 12 feet, and the maximum roof projection does not exceed 24 inches, are exempt from building permits. However, any electrical, plumbing or mechanical equipment installed in these structures do require separate permits. In addition, all structures regardless of size must comply with applicable zoning requirements. Please refer to the Department of Regional Planning website for more information on zoning requirements. " 

I have the plans as well as the lots where they need to go.

Hi, can someone put me in the right direction of where I would find people skilled at building a Tiny home or a cabin from start to finish in the Los Angeles Area. I tried Buildzoom but there was no response. My guess is that Buildzoom contractors are only interested in large scale projects. Thanks in advance