All Forum Posts by: Missy Longshore

Thanks for these helpful replies! @Brian Burke, @Ryan H, @Nic DeAngelo, and @Ronald Rohde, a few follow ups:

1. Isn't it the job of the planning commission to offer possible roadblocks to approval, especially if it's before the sale goes through? Wouldn't that be a sort of CYA policy for whoever is behind the counter at the planning office when you walk in? Consider the alternative - if you walk in and say 'I'd like to use this zoned commercial building for a store and do some mild alterations' and they say 'I perceive no possible issues with that whatsoever' - couldn't you come back around and blame them later? Curious how you feel about this.

2. The parking issue in particular: there's a lot of street parking at this location as you may be able to see in the picture. Are there any rules/guidelines/laws for business parking you're aware of? How does it work if you have a storefront on Main Street and don't have a parking lot? FYI there's also a burger store across the street (Carr's Drive In) that is a drive in from the '50s with a HUGE lot and I was thinking he could lease the 5 closest parking spots to his property if necessary.

3. The property is already zoned commercial and in theory he could buy the building and just start operating out of it - any problems with this?

4. @Jim Adrian thanks for mentioning the ADA design - the good news is the paved access pathways are pretty good although he'll need to measure for width but everything commercial is on the first floor and pretty wide open. Do you happen to know if the entire parking lot would need to be paved or just the ADA space? 

Thanks again, this is really helpful! There's another deposit due soon but the plan is to take the weekend to think about it.

Missy

Hi! My boyfriend is under contract for this property in Forestville, CA: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Forestville/6530-Covey-R... 6530 Covey Road in Forestville, CA in Sonoma County, California - wine country or the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Today he visited the planning commission and while they agreed it's a commercial property (he would live on the top floor and run a store in the bottom half), the person he spoke with at the office said there's a concern that there's not enough parking. As you can see, the lot is just a gravel lot with space for 3 to 5 cars. He's really torn about whether to proceed - the planning commission would not give him a firm yes or no - they said there may need to be a public hearing but of course they wouldn't be able to say anything for sure without him going through with the purchase and submitting full plans. Thanks for any advice/input/thoughts/etc! 

PS. One option is to go back to the seller and say this could hurt the resale price and to ask them to lower the selling price. Thoughts?

Thank you so much for these thoughtful replies! 

Hi! I'm new to the Bigger Pockets Forums by way of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast by way of the FI/FIRE movement. I've owned my own business for 6 years and I work from home in my 859sf 2br/1ba San Francisco East Bay home I bought as a foreclosure with an FHA loan. While I love my place, I still owe about $23k in student loans at 1.75% interest and $300k on this mortgage and I'd like to continue to build my wealth. I'm looking for tips in three areas:

1. Building an ADU in El Cerrito, CA. Prefab ADUs come in around $100k but I'm hesitant to take on a lot more debt. What can I get that's between a shed and a tricked out high end one where I'll get a good ROI? Will this increase my property value or should I just think of it as a rental unit/place for me to live while I rent out the main house?

2. Live in flip: I could convert my home from a 2/1 to a 3/2 (there's a stand up basement, unfinished, in my home. How do I begin thinking about whether this would be worth it? Where would I live - it would be tough for me to get another property for under $1M in this area?

3. Travel rewards: Thanks to the FI community, I just earned my first 90k Chase travel rewards and I'm looking for someone knowledgeable to help me find the best way to redeem them for a trip from SFO to Geneva in Feb. 2019. Any suggestions for that and for how soon I need to redeem or to find if there's a travel partner with a good route/mileage bonus I should redeem through?

Thanks so much!

Missy

PS. I also have lived in Spokane, WA and could think about buying a rental or other property there in the long term so if anyone has stats on that as a market that would be great. Thanks again!