The next California Gold Rush?
Let’s talk about Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Are they right for you?
You know them as carriage houses, granny flats, mother-in-law suites, or duplexes. The official real estate term for these types of living arrangements is actually Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) or Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADUs). The idea is to carve out a piece of a property that creates a secondary dwelling. Typically, it will have its own living area, kitchen, bathroom, and entrance that utilizes the water, electric and heat from the primary unit.

Although this concept has been around for ages, ADUs have recently become more popular as one way to combat the affordable housing crisis in California. And now, the ADU trend promises to become a full-fledged tidal wave thanks to several bills Governor Gavin Newsome recently signed into law. Taking effect on January 1, 2020, this package of legislation is designed to help alleviate the housing shortage and capitalize on the benefits of ADUs, incentivizing their construction and revising older zoning laws. The new legislation permits homeowners, for example, to build small independent structures (usually less 1,000 square feet) on their properties with less red tape. (more…)

Filed under Investing in Multi-Family, Market Conditions, Stories about Commercial Real Estate, Uncategorized · Tagged with accessory dwelling units, cash flow properties, east bay real estate development, housing market data, granny flats, oakland investing, multi-family housing

Yesterday I closed on a deal that I had been working on for a full year. This was a 32 unit apartment building located at 2701 High Street in Oakland California. The owners called me off a marketing flyers we sent out in the summer of 2010. I remember clearly getting the call from Larry and Rebekka who owned the property. Larry is a fire marshal and I immediately set a meeting and met with him and his wife in their San Leandro home. We started the meeting with the most important thing an apartment broker can do, listen to their client. It turned out they had two 32 unit buildings they wanted to 1031 exchange into one larger building. I took detailed notes and got all the information about the buildings and went off to prepare a marketing strategy for selling two large Oakland apartment buildings. Little did I know it was going to be a full year of continuous meetings, showings and conference calls before we finally closed the real estate transaction.

Nick Myerhoff sells High St. Apartments

Filed under Deals Closed, Uncategorized · Tagged with apartment building sold, cell tower income, closed escrow on multi-family property, high street oakland, oakland investing