All Forum Posts by: Erik Tsou

@Yezenia Hernandez

Thanks for the reply!

I spoke to like 3 or 4

Contractor and companies that does ADU's

The overall consensus is to remove that wall for the WIC and put a bed there.

Now the question for you:

Did you have an ADU you build from ground up, or a conversion of detached garage.?

What is the benefit for a permitted ADU compare to just providing a space that is private and safe for rent? Meaning no designation of ADU—-but have almost all of the nice ADU features

Hi experienced investors! I need a little creative input here. I purchased a property in Southern CA I plan house hack.
So the obvious choice is to seal off the walls and just create a "studio." That will be the cheapest and most economical way. However, I would like to rent this out to traveling professionals aka traveling nurses, (usually 13 week contracts so semi short-term), or airBNBs (>30days the area I am located has pretty strict airBNB rules so > 30 days allow me to circumvent that). When I don't have tenant , I'd like to keep that as a nice guest house/places for my parents to stay if they visit. All that said, I want this place to be furnished and decorated.

The thing that bothers me is the step down from the kitchenette. (This family room is a permitted addition that seller made. So part of it is on a raise foundation and part of it is on concrete slab.) The lower portion of the house is tiny, and there is this antiquated in wall TV cabinet that I want to get rid of. I want to have a larger space for a bed and I am thinking maybe get that by taking out the walk in closet. I mean, it's such a small space, not sure if walk in closet is the best use of the space.

My current idea:

- Take out the Walk in closet and the TV cabinet and In wall heater to create a bigger space for a full size bed.  (I am hoping that there is no load bearing element in this wall)

- Get rid of carpet and replace is with LVP

- Change out light fixture

- Somehow manage a small living room space.

- Repaint the cabinets and add hardware.

- Add a nice dresser and a mobile clothing rack.

- Add a washer and dryer in the bathroom 

Anyway...any input appreciated.

Since I am new and have a full time job, the main thing I am afraid of is not being able to be on project site to supervise renovation. I’ve had a horrible experience with an bathroom renovation that took way too long. 

As a new investor, I think this service is invaluable. This is a service I want to use for sure. 

I am closing on a SFR in Oxnard California next week. I am planning to house hack the place and convert part of the house to a Studio with private entrance to rent to traveling nurses (current plan). The floor plan is decent for this purpose. All I need to is to put a wall where a door is and that is it. However there are definitely areas I can improve on to make this from a good to a a great rental. So what I am looking for is a creative, cost effective way to rehab this property so I can create a living space that is amazing for renters, and also renovation in the front of the house that can also increase the value of the property.

So all this to say, YES.

Just to provide an update to this thread if anyone is interested, I've since then purchased a property in Oxnard that I plan to house hack. It is a 3 bedroom and 2 bath single family home with attached garage. The cool thing about this property is that there is front and back portion of the house. The front portion has 3 bedroom/1bath with nice size dining room and living room. The back portion of the house has a kitchenette, bathroom and a living space. There is also a back alley entrance with carport at the back of the house. My plan is to make this a functional duplex by separating the front and back portion of the house. (Just have to put a wall over where the door was. I'm in the planning stages now. Inspection is clean and now just waiting for appraisal and loan approval.

It seems like market is red hot everywhere. After combing through various properties in Ventura, found a property that checked all the boxes, made an offer above asking by 75k! Got beat out by cash buyer. Oh well. Continuing the search.

Thanks! This is helpful. I think a JADU would not be in my consideration now. I am deciding between building a SFH with large lot vs Duplex/SFH with existing ADU.

Your point about money trapped investment is well taken and is swinging me towards finding a property with existing ADU. There are other factors also in play since I also want the location of property to be close to work (I understand this is a quality of life thing, but it is worth something to me.) I'm actually going to go see the two properties I found above this weekend, and may proceed with one of them. If it doesn't go through, then I guess now it will depend on the inventory of the market. I have already a pre-approval, just waiting for a property that comes up that fits the bill.

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. 

Thanks for the reply! My plan is still up in the air as I will be interviewing this coming week for the position. Location should be no more than 20 minutes away from Ventura since I don't want to drive too much. Budget, currently saving, but seeing if I do get the job, I won't start till after July, I think I'll be looking at realistically 600-900k property with 10% down. Here are couple ways I can see this work:

1) Duplex where I live in one unit and rent the other. (Low likelihood but I best convenience)

2) Buy a single family home on large lot that I can add ADU. I am not looking for those already remodeled SFH, plan to get something that is kind of beat up...but still able to get a loan on. For this case...if the layout of the home is great to build an ADU then it will work. I don't have to necessarily house-hack from the get go. The plan will then be build an ADU, and refinance later.

3) Roomates...I don't really want roommates

Hi everyone, I may  be moving to Ventura/Oxnard/Camarillo in July (Moving for a job in Ventura) and would like to connect with like minded individuals. I've been learning about real estate investing for about 2 years. I am currently based in LA, have 1 rental property in Bakersfield that closed in November 2020, going through some growing pains dealing with section 8 tenants (learning experience). My plan is to acquire at least 1 property per year. But due to the potential move, I am very tempted to explore house hacking in Ventura/Oxnard/Camarillo as an opportunity. Just want to get you guys thoughts on which location I listed maybe the best for that strategy.

Hey Amanda, I am based in LA as well and have been looking at big bear, palm spring etc for STR but so far the market is way too hot. Great job in finding the log cabin in TN. My question is, how did you find that market, and what is your experience with the market so far?