All Forum Posts by: Sydney Sherman

@David Kelly mind sharing which institutions are giving you 95% LTV HELOCs??

@KIran Kaur Just wanted to say thanks so much for sharing this!!

@Brittney Cain  I believe all you asked is whether it was legal, not for everyone to weigh in on the moral merit of you refusing to move the car.  So I have to say I'm quite surprised by how much unsolicited advice you've gotten on this thread about how you should've moved your car, your temper, where you should have parked, and where your mother should live...golly!  

I agree with Ken.  I don't practice in PA, so don't know local law, so take all of this with a grain of salt.  But I would start by seeing what the lease says about parking and guests.  Yes, it's the landlord's private property, but a tenant also has certain rights to the property, which is why for example the landlord can't just enter whenever they want.  The tenant has the right to occupy the property, which I would think means the right to invite guests over, subject to reasonable limitations.  And banning one tenant's entire family without reasonable justification seems like it might constitute discrimination.  Obviously you'd have to consult a local lawyer to be sure.  I know there are legal aid societies that offer free landlord tenant advice - you might try to look for one of those in your area.  But in terms of the quickest most practical solution, it would likely be easier to try to talk it out with the Landlord.

@Jeremy Pelle Wowwwww so much hate for the LA market in this thread. I honestly believe LA unfairly gets a bad rap. Yes, it's an expensive market (obviously) but the appreciation is unrivaled and there are deals to be found. I second what others have been saying - the best move would be to house hack an SFR and rent by the room putting <5% down and look for properties with ADU potential so you can add value (househacking + BRRR) if not now, then down the line. I closed on such a property putting 5% down at the end of march and in spite of covid got all of the rooms filled and currently paying only a couple hundred towards the mortgage. When I move out and rent out the room I live in I will be cash flowing $700. When the ADUs are built, I will be cash flowing $2,600+.....so I wouldn't pay too much mind to the people telling you to get out of LA.

I also don't believe that rents are going to decline significantly.  LA's housing shortage is no secret (slight population decline has been reported lately but it's still the most populous county in the entire country), which is exactly why the new ADU laws were passed. Low supply + high demand does not equal rents going down. Add to that homeowners who will become renters in 2021 when they can't pay (and can no longer defer) their mortgage payments...I think the LA rental market is doing just fine and will continue to do what it has been doing for years.

I would however pay attention to the people warning you about dealing with non paying tenants...if you decide to go the MFR route, I would only buy a vacant property. Don't inherit any tenants.

Good luck!!

I would be interested too! I'm an LA investor - house hacking an SFR rent by the room in expo park area.

@Lluis Allen  Hi Lluis, apologies for missing these questions!  Yes, happy to share details.  We did originally submit the plans with both additional units as two ADUs and we were counting on that classification for the benefit of not having to provide parking. One was 625 sqft (first floor) and the other was 555 sqft (second floor). They were going to be detached from the current SFR on the lot. Current SFR is ~1400 sqft and total addition was going to be 1180 sqft. The lot total is 5,400 sqft. The corrections came back clearly stating and citing code provisions for the fact that JADU is permitted only in single-family zones regardless of whether the actual existing building is a single family residence. I am attaching screenshots of my architect's emails with the city. Now, we have modified the design and resubmitted with the bottom unit being a standard unit and the second floor unit being an ADU. I agree with @Alan Rudy that it doesn't make very much sense to not allow a JADU just because its R2 even if the only existing structure is an SFR.  We had to add one covered and one uncovered spot as a result of the corrections and the only way we could do that was by reducing square footage slightly, which I was annoyed about.  Construction cost is estimated to be $135k (though that seems far below market compared to most contractors I have spoken to) and timeline is 4-5 months.  

I'm curious to hear others' experiences, so please keep posting updates on this thread!

Additional bit of info from the city:  

Thanks @Carlos Alonso for the update and helpful information! It's really useful to hear about other people's experience who are also navigating the process for ADU construction with the city of LA.

I also wanted to give an update on progress with my ADU. As you'll recall I'm trying to build a JADU and ADU in a detached two story building on an R2 lot that currently has a SFR. @Lluis Allen I know you were interested in doing something similar.  We just got the plans back with corrections and the city says that we are not allowed to build a JADU on an R2 lot.  So we will have to resubmit with the bottom floor unit being a regular second unit (requiring parking) rather than an ADU and the top floor unit will now be an ADU.  The design is staying the same, so I don't think they had an issue with the two story addition, they just stated that, even though the existing property is an SFR, it would have to be zoned R1 for ADU+JADU.  Luckily, I think we just barely have room to add the required parking, so we plan to continue the build as usual, but we will have to scrap the planned outdoor space to accommodate the parking.

I would also love to get together!

@John Underwood @Wesley W. Thank you both!  I very much appreciate your input and tend to agree rationally but a small part of me feels bad about springing it on them.  But it's true there are all kinds of inconveniences that can arise that don't warrant compensation.  It's sometimes difficult as a new landlord to remember that this is a business relationship :) 

Hi Everyone,

I'm a new real estate investor, currently doing my first house hack. It's a 4 bedroom 3 bath house in LA that I am renting by the room. Wanting to take advantage of California's new ADU laws + housing shortage in LA, I bought the property with the intention of building an accessory dwelling unit in the back part of the lot. I would like to hear how more experienced landlords would handle notifying the tenants of this. How would you notify them? Would you offer a discount off of rent? If so, how much?

I want to be fair, but I also don't want to cut my income more than necessary, especially given that I'm already bearing the cost of the ADU construction and Los Angeles is not an easy market when it comes to cash flow to begin with. The ADU will be a detached two-story unit.  The leases the tenants sign have a clause stating the landlord reserves the right to make improvements on the property and the construction will be during normal business hours.  Our neighbor is currently building an ADU as well and, while there have been a handful of days that have been annoyingly loud, most days (90% of the time) it's barely noticeable.  So I feel like if a discount is warranted at all, it would only be warranted on those "loud days."  Is there a way to define and agree upon "loud days" so that the discount applies only when the work is an actual disturbance?  Is this too complicated?  

Other potentially relevant facts: rooms rent for $1050, $1250, and $1300; I'm living in the house with the tenants but they know me as the property manager - they do not know I'm the landlord (I know there's generally mixed opinions about this, but please reserve your judgment); construction will last approximately 5 months; the unit being constructed is a separate, detached building - no construction is being done on the SFR the tenants are actually living in.

Thanks in advance for your input!