All Forum Posts by: Yasmina Malik

Hi @Yasmina Malik, good to see you here on BP. I too have an interest/background in green building. My wife and I built our strawbale/cob house and we love it. I worked with a guy developing a straw panel building product a few years back while attending the GreenMBA program at Dominican University in San Rafael. I also started the Sustainable Tech program at Mendocino College (using Laney as one of our models). So, cool to see a person of similar interest here on BP. I'd be happy to connect if you want to chat further at some point. Cheers.

@Yasmina Malik 

Cannot wait to hear more about your progress and ideas.

You might check your local affordable housing office and see what programs might provide $ for you.

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and all the cash buyers (rehabbers) you will need.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good luck

Paul

Hi @Yasmina Malik, super glad you decided to join. Both of my parents are architects and my mom, in particular, instilled the "green" bug in me. I've always wanted to include 'green design' in my (future) deals but have not had the opportunity to do so; yet. For those of us who "care" about how healthy a home is to live in, how efficient it is AND what impact it has on the environment, you bring essential knowledge to BP.

I'm in the East Bay, interested in investing in Oakland & SF. Be great to connect & stay in touch!

Best, --MA

@Matt Aspen it is wonderful to make your acquaintance and thank you for the words! In my opinion more people need to be bit by the "green" bug. It is really nice to know there are others with interest in sustainable housing in metropolitan areas like Oakland and S.F those are exactly my areas of interest as well. Excited to see what the future brings. 

Hey @Yasmina Malik thanks for introducing yourself! It's great to have you here! Don't miss The BiggerPockets Podcast - they are great for learning how others are finding success.

Oh - and be sure to set up some Keyword Alerts- especially for "Bay Area" so you'll be notified when people mention it here in the forums.

Thanks again for introducing yourself!

@Yasmina Malik Welcome to BP! 

Interesting perspective and aspirations... I'm excited to see more from you when you break ground on the vacant lots. 

I live just up the road from the Tiny Homes office and demonstration area where they have several models. These were done by Jay Shafer who has http://www.fourlightshouses.com/ and http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/.

This is what we learned on our last visit checking out their models:

1. In Sonoma county (Northern CA), these are considered RV's and can not have permanent utility connections - with the exception of as an assisted living unit where home healthcare workers may visit (so you could put one in your backyard for Grandma if you were taking care of her there and leave the utilities permanently connected). If someone reports you, they will come out and verify you have disconnected the utilities and then come at random intervals to check on you. The office manager told us they have exhausted the market for people who will set up technically "illegal" housing in their back yard.

2. Regulation can be local/county/state specific but generally in CA RV's can't become stationary, and tiny homes are classified as RVs (at least in CA). The minimum sq. ft. for a permanent structure (e.g. granny unit) is 640 sq. ft. in our county. They continue to petition the State of CA to try to get tiny homes reclassified, and no local politician wants to remove the ordinance banning stationary RVs (we all know where that might lead).

3. They said Jay Shafer has sold the Tiny House business to Champion Homes (large producer of manufactured homes) and he now focuses on designing/building structures around 800 sq. ft. (supplied by Champion) because they are considered manufactured homes (e.g. fancier mobile homes). We toured an 840 sq. ft. 2br/1ba home that cost $60k (base) and came in at around $90k as constructed. It had stainless appliances/tile/concrete countertops and was mostly bare wood (aesthetic) or sheetrock, and had a minimalist/vacation home feel to it. It also had a nice front deck bolted on (we were considering something like that for a vacation home on a bare lot near the coast). You can custom-order them with whatever features/configuration/materials you can think up and they prepare a custom quote. The permits run about $9k where we live, and they will level the ground and bring utilities from the lot line to the structure for $15k. The price of the home includes delivery/assembly.

The overwhelming concern, as pointed out by many in this thread, is zoning and costs in your area. They don't make sense in the town where we live, but if you can build them yourself and have raw/cheap land with access to utilities then they might be more interesting as an investment.

Thank you, yes I think my scenario is going to be a little different. I can look at market comps... but, I'm building with shipping containers. Which as we know are not common in most neighborhoods. I like at least knowing I can have an estimated appraisal before start. Thanks guys for both of your input!