All Forum Posts by: Sarah D.

@Cody L.  That may be true; I suspect that the nosy neighbors in the complex next door might turn me in, and if not the parking enforcement might notice it in their next street sweeping ticket day.  I'm generally fine with doing work without SD City blessing, but on a congested street in PB I can't imagine I would get away with just cutting the curb forever.  I guess I've just discovered a new level to my own risk tolerance :)

LOL @Cody L.  That would work for about a week until i got turned in.  

We'd like to add a parking space to a 4-unit complex in San Diego.  Right now we have 3 spaces, but it would be ideal to have one space for each unit.  Adding another space will likely require a curb cut, so it won't be a simple process.  

I'm not sure what the best way is to get started and would love some advice!  Should I just go down to the city office and ask about all the rules and regulations?  Is there an easy way to look up the rules and regulations about parking?  Should I hire someone to help us determine feasibility and if so who?  It's an older building, so I suspect some of the current parking is grandfathered in and not up to current setback requirements, etc.  

@Justin R. It was $350 for the tub and either $5 or $6 per sq ft for the tile; I can't recall off the top of my head.  The total came out around $900 with a cash discount.  Unfortunately the showers in our 4 unit have tile to the ceiling and past the edge of the bathtub so it was a big job to either repair or replace.  We opted for the reglaze because of the cost and speed over retiling the shower.

We used NuFinish Pro; they did a great job.

@Preston Dahl My husband and I just finished rehabbing our first 4 unit and did most of the work ourselves.  We did it mostly out of financial necessity, but there were other benefits as well.  I'd like to think I'm a serious investor, but only time will tell.  I know I could spend my time sourcing deals and money, but as I'm working on the first project and have no other experience/cash to invest I doubt I could have done better with my time than painting, flooring, demo, kitchen install, etc.  Plus, the knowledge and comfort with rehab I have will be invaluable when hiring things out in the future.

Like you, I don't enjoy my white collar job and find few things as satisfying as working with my hands; personally I love flooring and landscaping.  Nothing like laying out 4 tons of landscaping rocks to make you feel accomplished!  So I understand where you are coming from as far as enjoying the work as well.

Have you ever worked at a start up and seen a CEO take out the trash or a VP of research stock lab supplies?  They don't plan to do it forever, but they do it to save precious cash while the business takes off.  That's how I view our decision to utilize sweat equity in the first properties.  In a few years when we have more doors, more experience, and much more $ it will be silly to do $50/hr work (it's expensive to hire work in San Diego!).  

One thing to help make your decision will be how long it will take you to do the work vs hiring it out.  How much will you save vs lost rent?  Also, don't forget that hiring out work doesn't mean you can set it and forget it.  You really need to be on top of contractors.

So I don't have to sit in meetings anymore (like the one I'm in now, which I'm clearly 100% engaged in).  

@Christian Konn I've seen several neighbors purchase a property and owner occupy with the intention of building out the lot.  There's a property around the corner from me that is perfect for this (wish we were ready to buy again right now).  So I'd agree with @Dan H. and @Justin R. that if you could buy a place to owner occupy, maybe even rent out the rooms to help with cost, then you would eliminate one of the major costs to development which seems to be the holding cost of the property while you get everything ready to start construction.  Additionally, from what I've seen it is easier to build out a lot then to demolish existing homes and then build.  Again, this is just what I've seen/heard; I haven't done this (but hope to be doing this in a few years!).

Another thought would be to just build out existing 2-4 unit properties, as in making the units bigger/add a bedroom or bathroom to make them more appealing to renters/certain demographics.  There seem to be areas with good schools where a small 2/1 could be turned into a nice 3/2 and attract families as long term renters.  However, I realize this doesn't fit with your shipping container plan.

Best of luck to you however you decide to pursue this! 

@Ryan Phillips I agree with you about the Clairemont areas, especially as you go west from the 805. We'll definitely be looking there for our next purchases. I disagree with City Heights improving significantly as I don't see the fundamentals there to support the transformation. There are deep socioeconomic issues in that part of town, and not a lot of opportunity for SFH owners to come in and have a stake in the neighborhood as it is mostly small multifamily. People seem to like City Heights because it's cheap (for SD) and it's close to the 'cool' areas. But good renters don't flock there, they seem to skip over it. All the areas surrounding City Heights are transforming, so maybe in 10-15 years it will change but not in 2-5 years.

So a general question to all the San Diegans- what do you like about City Heights?  Personally, if I'm investing in C/C- class I'd like better returns than what you get in San Diego.

I'm the type that will look up how much a friend paid for their house if they don't tell me... so I tell people to save them the time of looking it up online.