All Forum Posts by: Caleb Edwards

Problem is I dont have 20% equity. I have owned the place for less than a year. My reasoning  for doing va Irrl is that it removes the occupancy requirement to stay for a year. But maybe I just need to be more patient 

I have a duplex that I purchased with a VA loan. I am in the process of refinancing with a VA IRRL. Once the refi is complete I would like to purchase a triplex or quad with another owner Va loan or possibly FHA. Question is how do I go about doing that if the second property will be in the same city?

Looking for a good general contractor to build a guesthouse on our back lot. Any recommendations?

@Kendra Gaines any time 

R 5 is zoned for two family housing, however as long as the two principal properties are connected by a shared wall, for the purpose of an accesory dwelling unit they are counted as one unit. A duplex js allowed to have an accesroy dwelling unit. 

 That used to be the case but when the city of Atlanta passed the tiny house legislation it opened up many new possibilities. The "tiny houses" can be 750sq ft which is enough for a 2 bedroom place. $$

Not only are R-5 properties zoned for duplexes they are also zoned for accessory dwelling units which means if you find a place with a large enough lot you cant turn a single family home to a duplex AND build another house up to 750sq ft on the same lot. thats Three Units on the same lot! We just finished converting our single family home to a duplex. It only cost 30k and now the unit is renting out for 1200. This, I belive is a very under utilized strategy 

Yes we got everything permitted. The thing is, based on our initial reading of the zoning laws we didnt think it would be possible at first but then we went to the permit office found out exactly what the limitations were and built around those limitations. For phase two of our project which is the 2-4 additional units we realized that as long as we stay within the sq. footage limitaions and dont build any additional kitchens it could work. Now you might be thinking: how can you build an apartment without a kitchen? Well the city defines a kitchen as a room with a stove or range. As long as it doesn't have a range it can be built so we are using plug in, counter top, induction hot plates as a substitute for stoves.

First time poster, long time lurker, just wanted to share my story because I think it could be very helpful to others in a similar situation. So my wife and I have been OBSSESED with the idea of owning multi family properties but in the Atlanta market we are simply priced out of most opportunities. That's when we decided to create our own opportunity by turning our garage into a fully equipped studio apartment.  We spent 30k on the project and now its renting for 1200 per month which covers our mortgage and some of our utilities! We effectively turned our single family home into a duplex. It doesn't stop here though, because the addition of the apartment added massive value to the home we are able to access more equity which we are going to use to build 2-4 more units in our back yard (we have a large backyard that runs all the way back to the other street.  We went from throwing our hands up in frustration because we couldn't afford to buy a duplex/triplex to literally creating our own multi family investment property at a price point that is well below market rates. Just know guys that when one door closes another will open up if you stay focused on your vision of the future. Thanks for all the inspiration that this community has given us over the years we wanted to share our story as a way of giving back.  So if any of you are letting your garages sit empty just think of the income possibilities that could be created from converting it into an apartment! Let me know if any of you have questions about the process we went to to get the permiting, finding contractors etc.