All Forum Posts by: Jeff Hsieh

Hi Everyone,

I have a 600 sq ft shed (build by the previous owner with permits) sitting in my backyard right now. It has a new roof, basic framing, and electricity, no plumbing though. Right now it's just used as storage and I feel like it's going to waste and the space could be used to generate income. It is attached to a one car garage with a wall and door, and sits about 5-6 feet from the back wall of my house. My idea is to turn it into something like a 2bd 2ba, with shared kitchen and living space, and either renting it out, or do airbnb.

I've never done any type of major remodeling or construction before:

-Getting the entire project permitted by the city. Where would I start? Do i need to hire a designer to submit specs?

-Do I need to change the zoning from R1 to R2? What's the likelihood I'll be successful here, or will this be a showstopper?

-What's the best way to begin taking action here? I don't have any relationships with contractors, do I just start on Yelp?

-What else should I think about, and would this be a project worth undertaking, why or why not?

I'd be happy to clarify any details I may have missed. Thanks everyone in advance for your thoughts and advice!

Thanks,

Jeff 

Hi everyone,

I have a 600 sq ft shed (build by the previous owner with permits) sitting in my backyard right now.  It has a new roof, basic framing, and electricity, no plumbing though.  Right now it's just used as storage and I feel like it's going to waste and the space could be used to generate income. It is attached to a one car garage with a wall and door, and sits about 5-6 feet from the back wall of my house. My idea is to turn it into something like a 2bd 2ba, with shared kitchen and living space, and either renting it out, or do airbnb.

I've never done any type of major remodeling or construction before: 

-Getting the entire project permitted by the city. Where would I start? Do i need to hire a designer to submit specs?

-Do I need to change the zoning from R1 to R2?  What's the likelihood I'll be successful here, or will this be a showstopper? 

-What's the best way to begin taking action here? I don't have any relationships with contractors, do I just start on Yelp?

-What else should I think about, and would this be a project worth undertaking, why or why not?

I'd be happy to clarify any details I may have missed.  Thanks everyone in advance for your thoughts and advice! 

Thanks,

Jeff

Thanks @Andrew Johnson- This is the first time any of us are considering investing in rental property with other parties.  This is great and exactly what I'm looking for.  You bring up some great points we need to think about, things that can be as small as what refrigerator do we want to buy, and who is using it, so what is considered "fair".  At this point, we've set up a group gchat for "continued discussions" where we post listing we've found to get everyone's thoughts, or just topics in that we think of in general, and see how discussion goes (are we finding ourselves agreeing or disagreeing over hypotheticals?)  I agree that it is probably too early to pay for an attorney at this stage.

Thanks @Steve Kontos for your quick response!  If you still happen to have any sample contracts that you used between you and your friends, that would be most helpful!  Of course please remove any sensitive information.  I'm more just looking to see what types of agreements that we should consider writing down.

Hi everyone,

I apologize if this has been brought up before in a different forum, but I'm looking for thoughts/advice and any experience when it comes to investing in real estate with friends.  We are 3 married couples (6 people total) thinking about pooling together our capital for an investment property.  The idea is that by pooling our money together, we would be able to afford a downpayment for a property we otherwise would not be able to.  A bit about us:

-We live in California (SF bay area)

-2 of the couples currently own a single-family home.

-1 couple would potentially live in one of the units if it were a multi-family home.

-5 of us have stable jobs, 1 is finishing up law school.

We have great trust in each other, but we recognize that things can get messy quickly when mixing friendship and money. We've already met up for a discussion to identify each of our goals to make sure that we have a compatible vision for the future. We've agreed that if any of this were to move forward, we would have detailed written agreements that cover as many bases as we can (i.e. what happens when a couple wants to sell but another doesn't?..etc) We briefly talked about setting up an LLC but not entirely sure how it works.

I'm looking for any thoughts from anyone that's had this type of experience before, good or bad, as we are still researching if this is an avenue we want to go down.

Thanks in advance for your advice,

Jeff