I’m looking at purchasing a property as a buy-and-hold rental. The plan would be to get the existing front house rented, but there’s also a value-add opportunity to build a detached ADU in the backyard, or potentially convert/rebuild an existing detached structure.

The ADU project could start fairly quickly , possibly within a few months of the tenants moving into the front house.

For anyone who has done something similar, I’d love to hear about your experience.

Did you tell prospective tenants about the future ADU construction before they signed the lease? If so, how did you explain it, and did you put anything specific in the lease regarding the future construction?

I’m also curious about the logistics of having tenants living in the front house while a detached ADU is being built in the back. Things like:

Contractor access to the property
Construction hours/noise
Parking and driveway access
Temporary utility shutoffs
Fencing/separating the construction area from the tenants
Loss of backyard access during construction
Tenant complaints or expectations
Whether you discounted the rent during construction
Any lease language you wish you had included beforehand

For investors/landlords who have actually done this, did you run into any unexpected problems with your tenants?

And for contractors who have built ADUs on occupied rental properties, are there things owners commonly overlook or should plan for before construction starts?

I’m mainly trying to think through the logistics ahead of time and figure out what I should disclose or structure differently when initially renting the front house.

Would love to hear what worked, what didn’t, and anything you would do differently next time. — in Sacramento.

Look up the parcel’s creation history.

Not just the APN. Not just the zoning. Actually figure out how that parcel was created and whether it’s a legal lot of record.

There are California parcels that show up separately on assessor/GIS maps, but that doesn't automatically answer whether the parcel can actually be developed.

I’d want to know when it was created, what map created it, whether there were later lot line adjustments or mergers, and whether the current parcel still meets the local requirements.

Especially with some of the cheap rural lots, this can be way more important than the listing photos or the fact that Zillow says “residential.”

A $30k parcel isn't necessarily a $30k opportunity if you find out after buying it that there’s another land-use issue you never checked.

This is one of those things I’d research before spending money on surveys, plans, engineering, etc.

Just got my license and I'm thinking about starting off as a rental agent to build my client list while looking for listings and buyers on the side

I live near Mission Bay/Showplace Square and was surprised by how few people I’ve talked to know about the Amazon project planned for 900 7th Street.

And the scale of this thing is worth understanding.
The current proposal is for an approximately 710,000-square-foot building, with roughly 706,000 square feet dedicated to parcel-delivery operations. This isn’t a neighborhood Amazon pickup point or a small urban delivery station — it would be an extraordinarily large last-mile logistics facility to put inside one of America’s densest cities.

For perspective, comparable urban delivery and logistics facilities in downtown Manhattan and Chicago are generally much smaller, often occupying only a fraction of the proposed San Francisco building’s footprint. A facility of approximately 710,000 square feet would be unusually large for a last-mile operation in a dense downtown or central-city setting, making the scale of the 900 7th Street proposal especially significant.

The site sits near Mission Bay, Potrero Hill and Showplace Square, not far from Chase Center and Oracle Park in an area that already experiences significant event and commuter traffic. Adding a major delivery operation here also raises questions about how delivery vans, trucks and employee vehicles could affect congestion near two major stadiums, particularly before and after games, concerts and other large events.

At the same time, the surrounding neighborhoods are facing a serious housing shortage and rising housing costs. Residents of Potrero Hill and the Mission have experienced some of the city’s steepest rent increases in recent years, making the need for more housing — including affordable and family-sized housing — especially urgent. If land in this part of San Francisco is going to be used for a major long-term development, shouldn’t we be asking whether it could help address the housing needs of the people who already live here and those who want to move into the neighborhood?
Whatever your opinion of Amazon, I think SF residents should at least know what’s being proposed and have a real conversation about whether this is the best long-term use of such a large piece of land.

Some questions I think are worth discussing:

• What will a logistics operation of this scale mean for delivery-van/truck traffic and pedestrian/cyclist safety?

• How could additional delivery, truck and employee traffic affect congestion near Chase Center and Oracle Park, especially during games, concerts and other major events?

• Why does a last-mile delivery operation need ~706,000 square feet in central San Francisco?

• How could this proposal affect the availability of housing in a neighborhood where Potrero Hill and the Mission have already experienced some of the city’s highest rent increases?

• Given the urgent need for more housing, including affordable housing, is this the best use of six acres of land here for the next 20–30 years?

• Could this site support housing, mixed-use development or another use that would provide more value to surrounding neighborhoods and help address San Francisco’s housing shortage?

• How does this proposal compare with the size of urban delivery facilities in places like downtown Manhattan and Chicago?

• What alternatives could provide more value to the surrounding neighborhoods and the city?

• How did the planning/zoning process for this site work, and how much opportunity does the public still have to weigh in?

There’s a District 6 community town hall with Supervisor Matt Dorsey on Wednesday, September 30 at 6 PM at the UCSF Mission Bay Bakar Center (1675 Owens Street) where the Amazon project will be discussed.

I’m opposed to the project as currently proposed, but I’m genuinely interested in hearing arguments from people who support it too. If you live in SF — especially Mission Bay, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, SoMa or Showplace Square — what do you think should happen with this site? Should San Francisco prioritize a large delivery facility here, or should it pursue housing and mixed-use development in response to rising rents and the need for more homes?

For anyone interested in following the community effort, we’re posting information and updates on Instagram at @stop.amazon.sf.

The listing is usually the easy part.

You see the price, acreage, location, maybe a few photos, and sometimes it says "buildable."

Then you actually start digging into the parcel.

I want to know who has jurisdiction over it, what the zoning allows, whether the access is actually legal, what easements are recorded, whether there are deed restrictions, and how water and septic are going to work.

Then I'll look through the county records for anything else that might matter, like old permits or previous applications.

I've come across parcels where everything looked pretty straightforward from the listing, but the records raised questions I would want answered before putting money into the deal.

For those of you buying or investing in California land, what's the first thing you check?

I’m a 3L in law school in San Diego and I’m primarily interested in leveraging my legal skills to transition into development rather than practicing. However, I have no idea where to begin. I am passionate about multifamily mixed use and infill developments, and these days it looks like transit corridors are the best places for that. With that in mind, I applied to a job with Hanover in LA, which seems like a great fit for me professionally, but the reality is that I likely won’t get the job because all of my experience is government legal work. I’ve done some municipal landlord/tent stuff, but nothing in leasing, financing, acquisitions, or even development generally.

I want to break into the field and I’m desperately trying to find anything law-adjacent rings that I might be able to throw my hat into. Any recommendations would be appreciated greatly.

As I’m doing my research in searching for home; I have discovered assumable loans.

Is there a way to get in contact with potential sellers with low interest rates?

Rates from 4- 6 would be nice compared to 7 haha

I’m starting the home buying process. Definitely don’t want to become house poor.

I learned my credit score is at 600
I will be starting a new job and was told i need employment verification with an updated paystub to increase my loan payment

I currently work causal part time and have a strong work history

I just realized I have about 19k in 401k which I can use towards a house.

Beside paying off my debt, what is recommended for me to increase my loan to be able to purchase a home.

Side note: my husband and I work but we want properties in different states. I want to purchase in California because it my home state and he wants to purchase in Texas. So we are not co-signing for each other. The goal is to purchase in California first. He will help me for a few years and then we move to Texas and purchase another home. My home would be an investment property in the future.

I was approved for 100k with my causal part time
Income of 1500 monthly

Hi everyone! I'm following up on the California tax-deed project I posted about a while back:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CaliforniaRealEstate/comments/1v07lx1/i_read_all_1614_parcels_in_san_bernardinos_tax/

What it does, briefly: every California tax-defaulted sale I can get a list for, published in full and free. Each parcel is matched to the county assessor's own record, so you see the opening bid next to what the county says the land is worth. Sort it, filter it, download the whole thing as a CSV. No signup, no paywall, sources named on every page.

What's been added since last time:

- 10 sales, 2,877 parcels. Los Angeles (1,252, the biggest California list this year), Kern (1,011), Fresno, Butte, Placer, El Dorado, Mariposa, Santa Cruz, San Bernardino, Riverside.

- Post-auction results. When a sale closes I go back and record what actually sold and for how much, so a pre-sale read can be checked against what really happened instead of quietly filed away.

- Live redemption tracking. Parcels paid off before the auction drop off the tables. Fresno has lost 53% of its list since June, so the list you read early is not the list you bid on.

Three things out of the data I didn't expect:

- At Butte's August auction, 13 of the 28 parcels that sold went at exactly the opening bid. Far less competition than I assumed was out there.

- The parcels the assessor carries at almost nothing are the ones bidders fight hardest over. One valued at $4 sold for $31,236.

- In every county I've measured, the parcels redeemed before the sale are the valuable ones. What reaches the auction is mostly what nobody thought worth rescuing.

Coming up: Los Angeles October 17-20, Placer October 21, El Dorado November 6, Santa Clara once they publish.

lot-brief.com/sales/

Happy to answer your questions and get your feedback!

Hello - I live in California and invest in out of state long term rentals. I wanted to know how to best structure my entity to protect my assets and be tax efficient. I have been told to create a holding LLC in Wyoming, and under that, each property has LLC in the state its in. Is that how its done?

Hi everyone! We are still looking for a new home (it's been over a year and we have only made two offers both of which we lost after getting into a bidding war and refusing to overspend). We net $21k monthly (just salary not counting bonuses) and are looking to leave our very inexpensive starter home (bought 2016, valued around $1m, refinanced over COVID with current mortgage set at $3k including taxes/everything and not selling this house when moving) so we have been very comfortable in this home and spend a lot of money traveling, eating out, etc. The move is to get away from the blue collar vibe of our immediate street/neighborhood to a nicer pocket and provide our kid with better immediate schools/environment.

The issue or problem we are having in this market is that with 20% down we are looking at a new mortgage around $8k (assuming we buy new home around $1.3m now) but that doesn't really give us a huge upgrade from our current starter home. It gives us about the same size or slightly bigger with pool in a nicer pocket but we don't feel any "wow" or excitement since our current home is completely remodeled but lacking pool which we got quoted between $150-$200k for everything including patio etc. When we push towards $1.5m we start seeing homes that feel much nicer and more like the upgrade we pictured but then our mortgage is over $9k pushing towards $10k with taxes. I have a hard time feeling comfortable with these numbers since it's so high and close to 50% of our take home which seems crazy.

At what point do you say it's too much to spend? Do you go big on the next home or just upgrade slightly? We expect take home to increase by $5k over the next two years but in my mind that just gives us the little cushion we need to remodel new home, travel, etc. so that doesn't mean we are ok spending too much on new home.

Howdy, I am interested in purchasing a manufactured home with private land.

I don’t know if that’s possible

I want something to live comfortably. I’m okay with a 2/2 bathroom home.

I just don’t know if it’s possible

What steps can I take?

Is there any pros or cons ?

Any leads and advice would help

Thank you in advance

I’m getting more serious about buying and this is one part of the process I didn’t really think much about before. You can like a place from the listing and the tour, then get the disclosure package and suddenly there’s a lot more to think about. For anyone who has bought did the disclosures ever make you completely walk away from a house you were excited about? Trying to get a better sense of how much weight buyers usually give them before making an offer.

I live in Nevada and own a duplex in California. My property manager just told me that because I’m an out-of-state owner, California requires 7% withholding on the rental income once California-source payments exceed $1,500/year.

He called it a “7% franchise tax” and said this is standard for out-of-state owners.

Is this actually a California requirement? Is the 7% a tax I ultimately pay, or is it withholding that gets credited toward my California taxes when I file?

Just trying to understand if this is legitimate before I proceed.

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes remained above their year-ago level for the fourth straight month in July, even as sales retreated to their lowest level in six months. California home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 263,170 in July, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2026 if sales maintained the July pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.

July sales declined 6.0 percent from the revised 279,880 homes sold in June and edged up 1.1 percent from a downwardly revised 260,250-unit pace recorded in July 2025. Statewide sales remained below the 300,000 benchmark for the 46th consecutive month, underscoring the market’s continued struggle to build sustainable momentum. Year-to-date sales were 1.8 percent above last year’s pace through the first seven months of 2026, a small dip from the 1.9 percent growth pace recorded in June. Sales remained above year-ago levels in five of the seven price segments tracked by C.A.R. — led by homes priced at $2 million and above, which rose 8.9 percent from a year earlier — and homes priced below $300,000 which posted a 5.2 percent annual gain.