Garage Mahal--1812 Mulberry Street, Alameda, CA
Efficiency is a good thing, in general--it means less waste and more performance out of a given unit of anything. But I'm not convinced turning both your basement and your garage into living spaces, without permits, is a good thing when it comes time to sell your house.
1812 Mulberry Street has the following specs and description:
The only permits I have found are for much more minor work than adding a new basement unit and permanently replacing your car with a person:
The permittedness of the units notwithstanding, this property reminds me of the mini-wannabe-Stanford-Mansion Victorian on Clinton whose 4,500 sqft have been cut up into nine, count'em, nine units.
A house with two unpermitted units likely comes with a set of other unreported issues and/or the spectre of that most hideous of Realtorese euphemisms, "deferred maintenance"--although I don't want to misrepresent this property; for all I know it's in 100% tip-top condition. Add the fix-up costs to the expense of either tearing down the unpermitted units or bringing them up to code, and you might very well wind up with a final price tag north of $450 / sqft. And paying that much in that area for a house that unremarkable is lunacy.
But at least you'd be starting from a lower per-sqft cost than the current owners paid just four years ago:
1812 Mulberry Street has the following specs and description:
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,677 sqft, 7,000-sqft lot, MLS(r) #40404071, $619,000 ($369 / sqft)
2 Story Home, located at Central of Alameda, [...] Good neighborhoods, School. Potential to live one and rent others. [...] Beautiful Hardwood Floor 3beds/2bath (rented for sec. 8). Non-conforming unit-Lower 3bed/2baths-O/O and garage conversion w/ o permit-2bedsI'm not sure the agent realizes "located at Central of Alameda" would most likely be interpreted as "at the intersection of some street and Central Avenue", which this house isn't even close to. "Good neighborhoods" also sounds a trifle risky for an MLS(r) listing. And a one-story home with an unpermitted basement unit is not a "2 Story Home."
The only permits I have found are for much more minor work than adding a new basement unit and permanently replacing your car with a person:
Type Status Date Plumbing Permit, NA, NA FAILED--1/10/2005 1/5/2005
TEST SEWER LATERAL/INSTALL KELLYPlumbing Permit, NA, NA FINALED--1/14/2005 1/11/2005
SEWER REPLACEMENT & TESTBuilding Permit, NA, NA FINAL--12/30/1987 8/5/1987
REPAIR FRONT STEPSBuilding Permit, NA, NA FINAL--1/5/1989 10/27/1987
REPLACEMENT OF GAS FACILITIES
The permittedness of the units notwithstanding, this property reminds me of the mini-wannabe-Stanford-Mansion Victorian on Clinton whose 4,500 sqft have been cut up into nine, count'em, nine units.
A house with two unpermitted units likely comes with a set of other unreported issues and/or the spectre of that most hideous of Realtorese euphemisms, "deferred maintenance"--although I don't want to misrepresent this property; for all I know it's in 100% tip-top condition. Add the fix-up costs to the expense of either tearing down the unpermitted units or bringing them up to code, and you might very well wind up with a final price tag north of $450 / sqft. And paying that much in that area for a house that unremarkable is lunacy.
But at least you'd be starting from a lower per-sqft cost than the current owners paid just four years ago:
Property History for 1812 MULBERRY St
Date Event Price Apr 08, 2009 Listed $615,000 Jan 28, 2005 Sold $648,000
Miscellaneous