All Forum Posts by: Lia Martinez

@Sonomi We include all utilities and internet in the monthly rent cost. It's enough of a hassle to rent by room without making things more complicated than they need to be.  

What do you want to know about ADU's. My general take is that they are too expensive to build for the return on investment. And they are only permitted in certain neighborhoods.

@Dakota Mivshek That's great to hear you are in Orange County. Will you be attending the Coliving conference in Santa Monica in April: https://www.colivinghub.co/conference?

I am hoping the group housing rules do increase to 8 people per first 1600 sq ft with one person additional for each extra 200 sq ft (as is currently proposed). Many of my coliving homes already have 8 or more people in downtown and there is a real need for this kind of affordable housing. Is Bungalow an operator or is it an owner/operator?

The new group housing laws in Denver are in these prices if community review at the moment and should be signed into law in June: https://www.denvergov.org/cont...

I am a coliving investor as well, if you are interested in comparing notes.  

@Juan Escarcega

I will be visiting LA in a couple months for the Coliving Hub annual meeting (https://www.colivinghub.co/conference) and staying at Podshare Venice (https://www.podshare.com/) while I'm there. You could also check them out as an example if dorm-style coliving in LA. Haaven does this too, but for a different demographic (https://www.haaven.org/).

@Ian I Leinwand I would be interested in talking with you more about this. I'm based in Denver and have a background in coliving/ communal housing, but see a need for Oxford houses as well in this area.

I would check out upStart coliving in LA: https://www.liveatupstart.com/

They fit many,  many people into small spaces and rent by the bunk bed.  The owner and operator Jeremiah Adler is a very knowledgeable investor,  although I'm not sure if he is on BP. If you're interested in getting to know more people in Coliving, I would join some of the Facebook groups for coliving,  such as the Coliving Hub. 

@Luke Gates And that's not to mention how beneficial this type of living is for the environment and for affordable housing. If done well, it's a great impact investment. 

@Luke Gates I've never lived alone, so I'm probably not the best person to judge whether it's difficult or not. I prefer to live with others whether as the homeowner or not. I find that by living in a community with different people, I am more physically active, mentally engaged, and life is overall better. My husband and I share a room and the other 6 rooms are rented to others in my current home. 
I actually had to give one of my friends and housemates notice yesterday because he had been speaking negatively about another resident and had brought illegal drugs into the house. He was sad and so was I, but he understood that I always need to do what I think is the best for the community. In my experience, other residents do 'tiptoe' around you at first as homeowner, but once you share a couple of beers or bottle of wine together, everyone is friends and community is formed. 

@Luke Gates

Similar to what @Matt M. said, I own 3 communal homes that started out as house hacks. They are rented by the room in the Denver area. They all have great cash flow and I agree with Matt that this is the better method to purchasing a home and having your mortgage covered by the other residents. It does, however, require more management and your expenses will be higher (monthly and cap ex). But I've always found that the benefits of this type of investment outweigh the drawbacks.