​Video: Omar - A Guest at Friends of Mortgage Heroes San Diego

00:00:00    [Music] hi everyone welcome back to friends of mortgage Heroes I'm Andy I'm will and today we have with us Omar belan yes and so Omar is going to join us we're going to talk all about his life his career and give you some insights on what makes what he does so special and so interesting especially in a time just like this uh as you've already seen with friends of mortgage Heroes will Brian and myself bring together friends of ours in and around mortgage and real estate to help you learn more figure out what it is you want to do in

00:00:32    real estate if you're interested in that but if you're a consumer we have solutions for you regularly with qualified people that do things that you might need help with So today we're really excited to have you Omar thank you for being here on the show hey thank you guys for bringing me on the show and then I'm really excited for this yeah man and so just like you mentioned you couldn't said better Andy but it's all about giving back to the community right A lot of times we make the things difficult because of the lack of

00:00:56    understanding so bringing a person expert like Omar here with spraw design it's phenomenal to understand that hey how can we build an Adu that's the biggest thing that's going on here in California that's what makes it so you know um interesting and that's why I was like how do I bring Omar in here how do I have him just come and give information to our audience because like I'm super excited I have my plans Omar I know I share with you I have my plans I point upstairs because they're upstairs like I am so ready to create this

00:01:25    project and if it weren't for you and I got to give you kudos to all of this but if it weren't for you I probably wouldn't know how do I start in the beginning you know and so this is all about can you please share with our audience what is it that you do um yeah so we you know like I said we try to help people with their you know uh um architecture you know um uh basically plans and stuff like that so anybody that has any uh you know room additions any adus any garage conversion to adus uh uh you know either to get you know

00:01:55    extra income or to just use it for the family we can help them basically design it um do the the construction plans and you know all move it all the way to submit to the city and then you know eventually get a permit you construction and so we're talking about adus most of our audience don't understand what an Adu is right the acronym is an additional dwelling unit and these are things that are really right now getting other people to think outside the box and how do I create more money how do I

00:02:21    bring Andy maybe next month to live in my house probably doing an I don't you I want to do that you might want to you might want to build me I'm not sure you want me there but yeah but those are the things that you're actually helping uh people just imagine and see visualize what you're able to create for them Omar yeah correct I mean and and I mean uh uh we have about eight years of experience and you know we're hoping you know to help more people you know that way but yeah right now you know it use are

00:02:46    booming right now and this you know Chila Vista I mean all over saggo County LA County everywhere in California basically I mean all the laws in in you know this time in is um they're basically you know trying to accommodate more people um more you know because the housing crisis right there's a housing crisis right now and then you know people trying to you know make make income and yeah as you can know uh you know building a house or or even you know trying to buy a new home it's sometimes it's out of the question for a

00:03:13    lot of people right so this is a a great way for people to you know just and you know build something that is not not not going to be as you know cost as you know building or you know buying a home just do you know garage conversion you're already there you know they're not going to spend a lot of money on it so let's talk about that real quick cuz I know some people they hear the word a or they hear the term Adu they've heard of accessory dwelling units but they don't know that also equals garage conversion

00:03:37    so take us down that path really quick because I know on like specifically here and you go to the west side of Chula Vista you do see a lot of these garage conversions that it might even still have garage door on the outside but behind that garage door it's actually a converted dwelling space so can you talk to the a little bit about what what that is what it entails what some of the the popularity is it behind popular behind it is and um how people can benefit from that yeah so I mean basically it's there

00:04:03    right if you have a garage uh um you can convert it right and you know like I said people looking for extra income or you know they have a big family they can put somebody in there you know maybe they you want to use it for themselves or the moms or whatever or rent it right so yeah um uh as far as you know uh having a detach Adu is going to cost them more money as opposed to convert in some something they already have maybe the garage they don't use it that that you know that after and so they just

00:04:27    converted you know the the four walls already there footings are there Foundation is there so the the cost to basically convert that into an accessory andal unit and make extra money on that is going to be minimal compared to actually do something you know from grun up right what's what's the most common one like is it a two-car garage a onecar garage and what can you get out of that is it a studio one bedroom what do you get out of that cuz it seems too small right Andy like I'm going to put you in

00:04:51    my garage well well what's interesting as he's saying this I'm thinking okay there's a lot of different sizes of garages right and depending on what what you know decade they were made in there were different sizes are are less that but I'm also thinking wait a minute most people's homes Nows have like a furnace or the heater or the furnace isn't or it has a water heater in it so then that's got to go somewhere so my mind was already turned like okay hold on there's other backup there's other followup questions here so talk to

00:05:15    us about some of those things like what do what do people get out of converting it can they get of one bedroom like in with a little living room in a mini kitchen kind of deal or what what do you make with that space yeah so it's it's crazy what can people can do with spaces right so you know typical it's two car garage right you know we're talking about maybe 400 450 sare ft right so let's say you know typically people have the you know water heaters in there you know maybe the laundry in there so what

00:05:39    they what happens like so basically they can actually put that outside you know and create like an enclosure or maybe a cabinet or something some you know the enclosure and then you know the one of hookups you know obviously everything can get take taken care of on the actual permit and so if not they can just you know have one of those uh more modern you know uh washer and dryer they can put it inside the house if they have like a small closet they can do that too it's just up to you know whoever's doing

00:06:06    the the the project right but stackable a stackable was that's what that's what Stephan Mark did my in-laws my brother my brother-in-law and sister-in-law did that Europeans uh they they have you know 2 one basically the two yeah two and one someone don't need any any events but um but yeah so what happens you know uh so you do the garage conversion and then basically you take all the all the equipment all the uh equipment outside and basically you create a unit now now it depends how you want to you know separate everything

00:06:32    right usually you you can do a studio right but some people like you know prefer more privacy so they do a room and then it just depends some other the areas they do two rooms I mean they're going to be small wow New York style yeah so for example you know especially areas where you have a lot of students right you can renter by rooms stuff like that so uh they can do that too um and more like a dorm room kind of set up maybe I don't mean a dorm to dismiss the quality of what you're doing I'm saying

00:06:58    like the tightness and the kind of the space but if it's two people that might actually get you split or something deal like that like you're talking about yeah so building code basically you can do as uh at a minimum 70 70 square F feet so you you can imagine 70 sare feet like this table Yeah plus plus a little bit where is my bad fit as as long as you have an e window window like you know oh for fire code for fire code got it okay got it got it all right any in emergency people can get out they got to get out

00:07:26    yeah yeah exactly so I jumped out the window yeah that sounds like a good story start start to a good story the other day I jumped out my window wait what happened how we get to that point right we jump to that no it's pretty incredible but you're absolutely right Omar I've seen a one car can be converted to it's got a small little kitchenet a little dining not a dining table but a small where you could a breakfast table per se and a one bedroom with a one bath with the stackable washer and dryer and when you go in it

00:07:51    when you see it from outside you're kind of like who's going to live in there like are you kidding me then you go inside and you're like wo it just look so much bigger yeah you know even with walls up it doesn't even have to necessarily be a studio cuz we also know that a studio is going to rent less than a one-bedroom you know so you always want to maximize your your profit right where you're investing into it what's going to be my rate of return on my investment back that's a good point that's a good point I didn't think about

00:08:20    that I mean yeah there's obviously a price difference between going saying it's a one bedroom one bedroom one bath or one bedom half bath whatever and then and then you got like your studio exctly that doesn't make a difference you know what's crazy about all this Omar was just talking about you know because of the how the the housing shortage the housing crisis he's not even in the mortgage industry or the real estate industry but yet he understands affordability isn't that crazy all this stuff is just leaking

00:08:45    into the other buckets were now you're understanding the importance of that and I think that's why California has actually encouraged people by putting those Adu rules and regulations in place to encourage homeowners and what's interesting is is that you know back in the month of January just just this year back in the month of January we already saw like refinance applications already starting to pick up again so like Nationwide refinances were picking up and we're like okay well it can't be because they rate in term so they have

00:09:11    to be cash outs they have to be some sort of they're looking to either build something or cure debt or whatever but in a lot of cases that we're talking to people it's because of this they're trying to do something with their their yard and they got the space or they're trying to do their garage conversion so um so let's I want to Pivot if I can't can I pivot the access side cool you got the garage thing I know we could probably talk garages for like an hour so if you're interested in the garage

00:09:32    conversation put a comment below we'll make sure you get connected with Omar you can have that garage conversation if you need financing for that you talk to will uh but I want to talk about this accessory dwelling in because I know we've experienced a lot of conversations in 2023 about this there are some rules that change back in 2023 there was a massive massive Push by a lot of people to get adus that didn't do it in 22 and a lot of people already did it in 22 so it seemed like even more showed up in

00:09:55    2023 what is your projection for them in 2024 and what do you most often see people making them for what's the purpose yeah so I I definitely see more U more garage comra you know being built um um and this is because you know it's you know rent is is going up right and you know and mortgages are going up I I don't think houses TR price is going to go down right yeah so you know what are alteres out there for people you know normal people average old like me right hey you know I have a extra space I

00:10:25    don't use that much uh let's take advantage of that right and so in a lot of the people you know have you know some um um equity in their homes right so hey you know equity in there I don't know you know the the market condition I don't know what what's going to happen year down the line as might as well use it right now I can take advantage of that the money as well so yeah u i see that happening a lot more than than you know previous year and you know and every year it's it seems like it's getting better and better for you know

00:10:50    people that want to do uh want to take that round and use uh also there's a new laws are coming in effect like sb9 sb9 was already established thing last year and uh basically uh you can uh like homes that were you know um um sewn as single single they now they you can do a duplex and a duplex you can have two homes and you can build now two more adus so in essence four units wow so that's that's a great opportunity for you know normal people and also for investors out there got so you see more

00:11:22    like the when it's you're talking about a homeowner are you seeing that they're using it more as like an investment style or they bringing like family in yeah honestly um I'll say nine out of 10 is for investment for you know they want to rent it wow um yeah so that's I was saying I'm like he's going to say 5050 nope it's not 5050 not even close Okay no and it's crazy you know sometime when I meet people I ask him so what do you want to do this for and they oh I want to put my kids in there I want to put my

00:11:49    mom in there but you know down the line they they actually open up with me like you know I actually want to rent it um it just maybe that some people think this is illegal uh they just don't don't open up you know for right but but it's true back in 2023 you had a the Adu was meant for you to have kind of like a granny flat it had to be like a family member and so you would sign a deed right that that it would specify right there that you would actually it's going to it's not going to be for investment and I believe they

00:12:21    removed that for 2024 right yeah so what happened junor ad yeah so yeah Junior adus uh difference between junior Adu and an Adu basically is is an agreement you you signed with the uh with a jurisdiction city chisa city San Diego and then you do for certain years 15 years I think and uh it's just something that you know some some um some um cities have in place just to make sure you know um they they they don't overuse it right use it um but yeah I mean like I said I I think eventually it's gonna

00:12:51    it's going to be move away or something like that yeah cuz I think they were also saying that 2025 walart they're going to remove the adus that's what they were thinking but what's your your take on that um well like I said it's it's been getting better and better for you know for Adu people uh that that want to go that route uh um and you know housing shortage is not going to go away so I don't see that happening um yeah I don't see that happening so there you go there only yeah there only a minor minor

00:13:18    sector of the population you know they're maybe not not happy with it but you know that's where we going know everybody needs to a place to you know to to live and you know there's not a lot of options out there so uh you know basically it use is a great opportunity for people to you know make money and then people that want to rent you know some Brent something nice you know new affordable and you know it's a win- win for both I mean it is true everything's gone up inflation's you know we're not

00:13:43    going to lie it's it's there and it's going to be there for a while so people I think that's smart what they're doing hey let me use some of my Equity let me put into and add more value to my home because as you add these adus to your property you're actually adding value to it so it's not like money that's being misspent right it's not like you're spending it to go buy a bigger car or anything like that but when you're taking this money and you're building on your land something else you're just

00:14:10    creating that much more value and you're doing a service to your community because now you're bringing affordability home affordability to them if they're renting yeah I mean the the only way that's not true is if it just goes unused but that's not the case there's just too much demand so I mean it is it is it is definitely an increase of the value of your asset over the course of time whether that's in 12 months or 12 years but I I mean I think what I'm hearing you say is like people may have the intention of it being for

00:14:35    extended family or taking care of somebody or whatever but ultimately it should be it's making money it should be bringing Revenue towards the household yeah yeah I mean once they open it up I mean once they build it once they get the permits going when they start building it and once they see the potential that oh you know this is a cash out yeah you I want to do some more you know um so it's it's funny I want to talk about this an example of of a project that I did in County uh this is actually um um um yeah County um what

00:15:04    what's the city right here right next on the 54 Bonita no not Bonita uh further down um National City no National City on the county side uh the county side you know hamul H H ham yeah so what's that city is that uh uh I think it's Spring Valley Spring Valley Valley Spring Valley is an incorporated uh City from San County so I did a project there it was a garage conversion and what we did there um I I believe it was a 450 ft garage we converted into an U two rooms and you know living room kitchen

00:15:40    um and and you know the dining room right what is the client doing right now with the with the uh with the project now and originally was going to be for just to rent it out you know normal right for long term right yeah now he's put he put it on arbnb and then he's making like maybe double what he thought he was going to be doing wow and I I mean I I I went and look you know RB rbnb website and I saw you know the basically end up product and it was just you know just you know constantly getting rented rented it was crazy it

00:16:10    was crazy W well that's got to be a really good little portfolio example for you too right I mean as as a you know business to business business owner business owner right that's got to be that's good for you as an example to show people like look here's what one of my clients is doing and you know I'm going to do your project for however much it's going to cost you but here's your Revenue possibility over here this is not happening everywhere citizen NE you know has for BNB for any other you know uh business like that they have a

00:16:33    lottery system they have a lottery system so you know it might not work for you but you know you also have you know short-term rental like you know uh nurses cops you know we have a lot of CBP here cops you know they come for training and and they place to sa for three months so you can you can think about that I didn't even think about that keep going no keep going just so and basically you can rent it short-term rentals and you know with the furniture already you can you know you can charge a little B more and um you know that's

00:16:59    exra income so I think a lot of people what happens Andy Omar you know like myself this I'm talking from experience right I've already done a few adus and um I actually have that project that we're currently working together with but it's more of the how do I start it's sounds so difficult is it that difficult Omar I'd rather you say yeah it's not that difficult just you just got to get with the right person right you know from the g go um in our company what we have what we have is basically we we we

00:17:27    basically you know we take you in and we tell you all the process we tell you you know what's going to happen and at that point you know we make an appointment I go to the site you know check out the site and you know I I basically get your ideas and I I basically MH my ideas with your ideas and you know the in that product is going to be something practical affordable and that that's going to make sense in your in your area yeah yeah now I know and I thought it was going to be very difficult but when

00:17:52    we started then you started helping me on my other project it was just so easy I I thought I was going to have to be on top of you really usually it's top of a a designer because that's what you are as a designer we know that an architect is they have different type of uh rules and that have in place but in your case I'd rather have gone with the designer you know and I'm telling you I thought I was going to be like like the last experience is Andy when I had to do my own oh my God it took like two years

00:18:19    with it it was a nightmare a nightmare and then so now I come with Omar and he's on top of me will when hey Will hey Will when are you going to pay the school fees will what are you GNA so I'm like man Omar's good he's like on top of his stuff but you know the process was a lot easier than what I thought and it was not as expensive as I thought for a garage conversion you know there's different fees that you have to pay versus doing an additional dwelling unit anytime right now it's over what is it

00:18:51    500 square feet that you can do for junior Adu can you tell us some more about that so okay so the different rules right for adus you can do you know as little as 150 250 and as much as 1,200 ft it depends you have the space in your in your house right uh for juny to use uh you cannot go more than 500 square F feet and then once you go 500 more more than 500 square feet um you have to pay school fees um correct you got to think about that but you know sometimes even even so if you pay if you pay a lot of fees up front I mean you

00:19:23    want to maximize what you have right if you have the space to build something in the back maybe 1,200 ft which is Max you want to go ahead and do it maybe because you know you can you can do three 32 which is three bedrooms two bathrooms you can rent it for more obviously you're going to be paying more but if you have the the money why not do it you know maximize The Profit um uh because you know once you build something let's say you build something for 500 square feet right you don't pay school feed you

00:19:48    you sell little money but you got to do the kitchen you got to do the bathrooms so it makes more sense you know you want to do that build something bigger the the cost is not going to be that much much but you're going to get more in rent yeah no absolutely but that's the thing right like fees a lot of people are very concerned with that so now and that's what happened with me when I went to the school there's two School District I had Chula Vista and I had Sweetwater so I had to go to each one

00:20:13    and pay it and this time around I want to do it myself be the the time before I allowed the architect to do everything for us I would just get the bill and I would send the payment this time I said you know what let me tie it differently which just gave me that more excitement and better experience kind of yourself you know so I went to the TR Vista how much in fees yeah okay for the 500 no fees for the one that 900 in change yeah I had my fees and just like you said but it's all worth the while you know it's

00:20:40    all worthwhile if you already have the space and you're already going through the process you might as well just kind of look at it as a bigger project but I also know there's a lot of people that are limited so if they're converting the garage it's pretty affordable it's pretty fast right Omar yes yes I mean that's another option that's a great option I mean like I said four walls are there Foundation is there they only got to do just you know some some minor upgrades you know kitchen bathroom yes

00:21:04    uh even for junor you don't have to have a bathroom inside you can share the house bathroom you can have access from the house to the Junu and as long you have an access to to the uh to the outside from the j u you can you that's an option too so you're saving on the bathroom um so I mean you know uh uh yeah construction costs money but it's you know at the same time you know it's not going to be that much as with people think yeah and you know you mentioned earlier Andy the some people build the

00:21:33    deals with the garage door still there hey I'm one of those yeah no I see them I see them on the west side I'm like I get it I totally get it cuz just aesthetically for me it conforms right if I just put up wall with two windows it kind of looks and there's a driveway right there for me it just kind of looks like I'm telling everybody else this is uh junior ad or if somebody lives there Adu in secret in plain sight hiding in plain sight right hiding in PL s exactly yeah well I was gonna ask you like I you

00:22:01    know I know you you're doing this process with Omar but like you know you mentioned already you've been doing this for eight years you're obviously in the middle of this like Fury of Adu building and garage converting right now like what what is the thing you love most about this what do you what just drives you to do this yeah so I guess helping people I like meeting people too I mean it's great to you know different people different cultures uh um you know for example there's a lot of you know Clans

00:22:27    out there yeah I love those people uh CZ s you know just mixure Indians Mexicans uh CH be some more Mexicans uh but yeah I like meeting people I like the the the change and you know basically stories behind you know what they're trying to do the projects uh and you know I like designing um my background is civil engineering U um and so I I love you know in in designing it's all about you know basically um uh uh fixing problems solutions for problems I like that I like you know it keeps motivated okay

00:22:59    what's next what next what's next and you know a lot of the project Fred you project they they're not that long so you know once I finish one project a problem I'll fix it solution boom you know client's happy or let's move move to the next one and if I get paid on that that's extra for me so yeah yeah well okay so you me you mentioned you like solving problems where does that go go a little more on that where does that come from does that come can you like think of a point in like your your life

00:23:22    or your your your growth and development maturity where you like realized oh I like solving specific types of problems yeah yeah so um like I said my background is engineering so uh you know since I was a little kid you know I was like Legos and stuff like building Legos and stuff I always thought I was going to be an architect either an architect lawyer right and so um building buildings or building cases boy yeah yeah yeah so and you know for me building and actually seeing something getting built uh it just you know it

00:23:51    brings a lot of Joy that's awesome um yeah so and on top of that I like helping people I like talking to people so um that's that's where it comes from my guess so you were you doing civil engineering right before you convert you came you converted you you started doing this designing eight years ago what were you doing right before this yeah so what I have in my background is basically um I I went to it technical school no longer ass basically I got a I got a degree from a drafting degree at that

00:24:19    time I was like I think was 19 years old I didn't know exactly what to do but I knew it was something had to do with some engineering drafting right so I took that you know and basically I got a job here in San Diego uh with the you know with a very big firm um you just drafting electrical you know all that stuff and and I really got into it but then you know I knew you know my my my my path was not my path was not going to be just a drafter I want to be something else so I was like okay what am I good

00:24:44    for oh you know I like solving problems engineering I like engineering so I go for engineering civil engineering so I got a bachelor uh uh in civil engineering from you know San Diego State and then from there okay so you know what's next uh uh so should I go for you know private or you know public then you know I chose private you know um to get a little more experience and then uh I did that maybe like a year and a half and then you know I started working with the city of San Diego and then basically uh um I I I I was there

00:25:11    for like 10 years continue working there and now uh at the same time I said you know what um I like to have a my own business which is I encourage a lot of people to do right if you have a double2 job always have something like a business on because you you you you get a l tax right off and stuff it's beautiful yeah so um and I'm sensing it gave you more flexibility to do what you really have passion for not just locked into the lane of like the work you're assigned right is that kind of where I'm

00:25:37    guessing is that where we're going well yeah because you know you have H uh like I say you know you have the possi basically your own destiny right your your business uh and you're helping people solving problems and and you know it's it's it's a win-win for for for me and as far as my growth yeah that's awesome awes that's really cool man NE you know and um so right now you have spraw design and then you also work for the city correct yeah you know which is awesome and I know I leverage that relationship with you quite a bit

00:26:08    because you already knew exactly what I needed to do and how I needed to do that so that even the guidance was even for me even that much easier you know and that's why I continue Omar I mean you're one of my best referrals that I have to send out to people I'm like just go to Omar he already understand it he already knows what the city's looking for you're not going to get the ifs or buts he's going to give it to you the way it is yeah yeah and so it's it's crazy how you know I have people calling me from LA

00:26:32    from Riverside wow so I mean we can help anybody as long you know we we basically know the requirements of the city I mean you know I'm pretty sure you know once you do something for you a long time you you get familiar with the you know with the you know basically everything and you try to make more everything more efficient so um I guess you know now you basically get Omar 2.0 because all the experience that we have right that's excellent that's excellent so where do you see everything heading like uh

00:27:01    moving forward with the whole housing and the adus where do you see we're heading well um more more adus more adus I think um um because you know like the housing short is not going to stop you know it's it's just crazy here especially here in California um they they don't they cannot build enough homes in and even the homes that they built uh um you know the maybe someone a lot of them are not affordable for you know normal people so um you know especially everybody you know trying to you know basically uh uh live to a nice

00:27:33    Community um it's out of the question so and and if people can basically convert the garages or do a det Adu or you know take advantage of sb9 have four units in there it's a great great uh uh solution for that problem yeah um so yeah I mean I don't think it's gonna I mean I guess maybe five years from now we'll talk NE you know next five years but right now I think I don't see you know this isow slowing down yeah and what what do you see as far as you and your trajectory with your design company you know where

00:28:03    is it you're going what is it that you are like aspiring for you're reaching for those next three years five years like talk to us about like your your own business like what is it you have aspirations for yeah so um we have a lot of aspirations right and you know especially this 24 uh you know um happy New Year to everybody out there um yeah we have a a lot of goals a lot of Inspirations um so what we're trying to do basically like I said you know try to see what our setbacks were in 2023 basically grow more right um um we we

00:28:34    trying to help more people um and uh right now the opportunity is there we just need to present ourself you know uh get to know more people most of our job most of you know uh people that you know come to us is basically uh people that you know we met before you know referral and stuff that's how you know uh um how a lot of the a lot of the clients come come to the company but now we're trying to you know be more you know on the social media and stuff like that and you know get us to to know out there so we

00:29:02    you know we can help more people and so that's the goal for 2024 just grow you know um um B basically um help more people help you know try to you know accomplish more um more projects uh for this year what what's what's been one of the most like satisfying projects you've worked on or stories that you've been a part of in this eight years of doing this as far as like a designer you know separate from your your job job like you know running your own running your own show and all that what's been something

00:29:28    that's just like you you think back and you go wow that was just a really gratifying experience helping me yeah help it that was F exclud that was one exclude me present company excluded well I mean you didn't know like you know we met I met William uh through another person uh and basically you know that brought me here right so I'm really great grateful for this opportunity but yeah I have another example a great example um I I did a with John actually the contractor yeah so he refer from it to their clients and

00:29:59    U this couple um and this is uh in L Mesa this couple had a garage right and so they uh the the guy his mom was basically uh was wanted to live with them she didn't have any option basically and so happy um you know basically the couple you know Liv in the house and they wanted to you know uh basically move the mom somewhere didn't have options right so they thought okay maybe if we can convert the garage we can have our mom live there and so that was uh and I think you know it having the mom there with them living with them

00:30:34    it was creating you know some cha you know some something resment tension and so I came in and basically I I show him okay yeah we can convert this they didn't know if it was possible or not but you know I show them okay you can do this we can you know basically put the kitchen here bathroom here and she was so happy she's like I'm ready to move Walmart you know let's do this because uh you know I want to have my own space and so I I I think you know about 3 months ago I went back and you know visit her and you know I wanted to take

00:31:06    some shot and you know see how she was doing and she was all happy and was like Hey you know thank you um you know uh this really you know now I have my own privacy and there were a couple you know they're happy now you know the mom is the house so that's awesome cuz here's here's a misconception I like going back to the garages right one it's a lot more affordable if you don't have a big budget you can start with that start with the garage it's not as a big as expense as people think right then you

00:31:32    have the misconception that people going into the garage like they remind themselves being there in the Summer where you go into this you know and you go in there and you see that freaking no drywall in there just the beams the the wood the studs right and you're just like it's hot as heck in here so that's what we picture MH what's crazy is once you put the dry one you put the wall you could put Min splits so you could have your own AC you could have your own heat it's just like this wasn't even a garage

00:32:00    yeah from outside it looks like one but when you go inside it's like wa this place is pretty nice well and that and that and I'm hearing your story and I'm hearing you give this description and that is you know that is where I think Freedom came from these people right we might think of our garage that way and maybe most people's are garage that most people's garages are that way maybe it's an unfinished garage right it doesn't have drywall on the other side correct but and and then look let's be let's be

00:32:25    honest there's a lot of people that don't use their garage for cars they just use for extra stuff and crap and just whatever but then to turn it into something that is so memorable not only for the family but it's meaningful that creates freedom and it allows that relationship to continue maybe without that tension like that's a really that's a really profound experience to have when we're talking about oh yeah we're building this thing and it it costs this much money and it can make this much money but like look at the non-financial

00:32:49    tangible impact it can have in someone's life like that's a big deal and I know that I know that who watches our Channel they're going to relate to that as well there's going to be the money aspect oh yeah cool I want to make that extra dough every month and there's going to be people that like yeah I need this space but I want that person bu me just not all in my space same way so that thank you for sharing that that's really important I know there's probably a lot of more people watching and that feel

00:33:10    would feel gratified by that too and we'll just never know so now you have to comment or so there it is I mean Omar you go you you the project was completed and you go back to the house and you knock right there just to see how does she feel and I mean how how rewarding did that feel that you were able to find a solution for them yeah yeah and then she remind you know she she remembered me too so but she's older she's an older lady but yeah it was it was great experience for me and you know I took a

00:33:36    lot of pictures in there but yeah she was very happy and then she was showing me oh you know this is where I take the coffee and then and you know this is where I have my pantry and all that I was like oh you know great for youour pride of ownership that's amazing yeah yeah so and it was crazy because you know I actually design the whole thing but you know uh it's it's kind of you know gratifying to see how people get to use it right the way you you intended it um and some people you know modified stuff is it's

00:34:02    all good as long as it works for you you know you make it your own it's your own house so I'm more happy you know I mean Omar it's you share this I did that with my mother-in-law I built and extended the uh part of my house you know for them to live there and I know my wife in the beginning thought like oh we're going to see them every day like they're going to be here or whatever but I'll tell you just having that separate door and having that comfortable space that you accommodate it's like they're not

00:34:27    even there it's crazy you know and it's so cool that you can go right next door and then you know I used to go to the neighbors for sugar milk or whatever and I just go with my mother-in-law when Tanya wants to buy sugar I like don't do that or milk don't do that we just go next door go knock go see if go see if mom's got it yeah you know and it it's funny cuz on the weekends I'll go over there and knock and she's always has like cookies she's like Betty Crocker right so she'll go in there have cookies

00:34:51    I just go over there and I knock hey oh I see cookies I see so I just take it so I'm glad no joke this is totally not scripted part of the show but when I had to go back in December to get the birthday cards and do all that you know what she her note to me was the birthday cards are on the counter next to the business cards and take the tin of cookies I was like hey I'm winning right now it doesn't get any better so you sharing that that she felt that she has that privacy that's exactly why we do

00:35:17    these things so I'm glad that you find those you know you're finding those Solutions and you know what some people don't know but you know once you do part of the code you know part of the code uh to build a you know garage conversion like that um you have to have a one hour FR rated separation okay and not only noise reduction so you know um if people worry that you know the they whoever they rent to they're going to be too loud is it's not it's just you know part of the uh the building code you have to

00:35:42    keep it one Out rated and also noise reduction so that that's great too and then you know you rent it in there you know you don't hear your neighbors nice I almost forgot about this though but I I I seem like I seem to remember you and I had a conversation about you can do the garage conversion and you can build a second story is that correct we didn't talk about that though that's what I'm doing that's what you're doing right now okay correct so let's talk about that part cuz we've been talking about garage

00:36:04    conversion just in the context of single story whatever but you can do a second story as well from what we were talking about correct okay share share with the audience what what they need to know what some common things questions are about that and then what that could look like yeah so I mean some some people they want to use a garage right so what other the option do they have well I mean if we built in the back maybe that's going to be too expensive right so they can go vertical or limited space

00:36:26    yeah limited space so they can go vertical and then basically they be some money there you know they build on top of existing um you know floor Garage in this case and so another teaching consider is like how far are you from the utility connections Waters or you know electrical so you know having the twostory Adu or Junu on top basically it's right there you know you just connect you right there as opposed to having know maybe 40 50 ft in the back right everything everything counts you know trenching all that stuff

00:36:56    so you know you be send me some money in there and then Nest you know is is it's closer and you know the people you rent it too they don't have to go through the your yard basically they they you know they go to their house and stairs right obviously from the front right so okay so someone who has a garage they want to convert they can actually leave the garage and just build the second build the Second Story on top or can you actually convert the bottom and the top too into one big unit that would I know

00:37:20    that would cross 500 square feet I get that part but or you could do could you also make one entry on the garage conversion and a second entry on the top to make a two unit or do it have to be one one unit it can be two basically the garage you can do garage com Jun Adu and build on top an U two separate units wow okay okay see I didn't know I'm sorry for the naive question I didn't know that part okay yeah and so with stairs on the side right stairs to go up to the second unit which is the Adu yeah so

00:37:47    okay so if I could stack 29 we talking about Legos earlier we could just stack 29 on top of each other we could have a little condo complex and again as long as a structure like in my case we had to make sure that the the there there's proper reinforcement right exactly so I mean that's why you know we usually hire when when we go through story we need to have a professional C engineer for that so structure engineer and that is an extra cost not not major it's just an additional cost it is between 18 to 2700

00:38:15    it just depends on the scope of work yeah okay I'm glad I thought of that I was I I'm glad that came up in my mind because I was like I didn't know some of the things you were just talking about right now but I know we talked about it and um per perfect format one of the one of the things I do want to ask for the our audience is how long does it take the process is it longer if you do a junior Adu versus an a a um a separate Adu how long does the process take great question yes yeah great question so it

00:38:40    depends right C chilisa they're they're pretty you know pretty fast um but uh you know U for example if you were to do a garage conversion it might take maybe four months okay uh but it just depends for example you know um let's say somebody contacts me and then we get inv Bor and then you know within within two weeks 3 weeks or a month uh or you know even two months it just depends sometime you know because we need to go back and forth with the client with the design needs and stuff like that but if degree

00:39:07    something right away we can have you know basically submitting plans to the city within a month and then from there more or less takes about four months for them to get a construction permit and then from there you know basically they can start the six to eight months okay four or four to eight months okay cool you know one of the major questions I've actually been asked is I know I have an HOA and people are asking me like like how are you able to do an Adu when you have an HOA yeah yeah HOA uh they can

00:39:38    get in the way right but you know it's it's not impossible so I have several projects where you know they have HOA they have some requirements mostly you know exterior requirements so what people do is basically if they have a garage um so that they comeer the garage right but you know H don't want for you to basically to to take it with the uh the the purpose of a single Home garage so what we do is like we we basically leave the garage door and we just build a wall in the back and in essence if you

00:40:08    if if you walk to it or you drive by a house you see the garage store being there but behind it you have a unit you you and need to you so yeah it works out good so they can't stop you right no they can't stop you cuz it's that that wasn't was that was an issue in the beginning wasn't it correct and then that that rule basically superseded that and said ho can't tell you no it's your property in 2020 correct and then that's what happened with me just all I had to do is aesthetically conform to the rest of the

00:40:35    other homes which is good I mean I'm not against an HOA right it's like that way my neighbor can't overbuild or he can't paint his house PE it's got to conform to everything I like it no Pink Houses in Memo's neighborhood yeah cuz you know how I am I like yellow yellow you imagine you got like a normal painted house and you got this yellow attachment yellow right there but that's the me that's the biggest question that I from you know from clients you know cuz obviously they saw me you know build my

00:41:00    own Adu and I put it all on YouTube and all that stuff and they're like but you have an HOA you can't do that you can yes you can it's a law so it's a California law that allows us to be able to do these things so HOA Is Not a Bad Thing usually H keeps your your the you know the home value right so we just you know just got to work around with them and basically show them you know it's going to look nice at the end don't worry about it you know we basically go through their their you know they have a

00:41:25    requirements we submit the require you know that we get approval from them and then we can move forward and you know submit to the city like a like a neighborhood parent we we promise after the building party we'll clean up yeah yeah well you know you guys I would love to just continue on with this and uh keep going at it um I really feel like we have to bring you in again because you know times change oh yeah and so we love to hear like maybe another 6 eight months are you down for that like just

00:41:48    to hear what new rules regulations come have come in place that where people could benefit from yeah yeah definitely you know thanks for the opportunity again and you I'd love to come back and you know talk to you guys awesome well one of the things go ahead Andy no say yeah we want to make sure that people can reach you through William or or themselves so you know what's the best way for people to follow you you mentioned social media earlier in the show how is it you'd like people to follow you and see your progress see

00:42:12    what kinds of things you're working on where can they find you online yeah so we have a website um they can um you can probably put it you know later on the description on on the video but yeah spr design.com okay and also they can reach me at 619 31231 0 mhm uh that's my cell phone um they can call me and then you know I like to also you like I mentioned before early in the the you know us talking I have a promotion right now so people if people contact me and they say you know word they he about me basically you get

00:42:41    a 10% D mortgage hero in the house awesome show hey that's our first Show discount by the way that is thanks Omar where way to start 2024 he said he was going to start with the bang let's go with that so there you have it ladies and gentlemen 2024 call Omar 10% discount which is awesome Omar is there anything that we you felt we didn't ask you a question that you feel people should know and probably we didn't ask yeah so I mean you know um basically right now there's great incentive for people to do this type of you know um

00:43:14    you know construction right because uh there's a lot of incentives U uh and you know like I said you know it costs more to build a home it cost more basically to buy a home um just you know as small as well you know put up the cost if they had Equity of they have some money safe go ahead and do it because you know now at the time right you know everything's going to go you know it's going to be more expensive rent is not going down it's going up so yeah this is this is a opportunity for them to you know make

00:43:38    extra income and you know one of the one of the things that you know uh uh that is really pressing you know people out there is you know more income how do I make more income so this is a weight way and like I said before you know also you know try to get a a business on the side as well so yeah yeah leverage your home at its best you know here's another thing we didn't discuss but I'm going to put it out there real quick I know Cala the California Housing has actually a grant for $40,000 you may just want to

00:44:05    Google that and get that information you know it's got to be owner occupied that's not for investors it does take some time and they do run out of funds but there's a grant I have a couple clients that actually applied for it and they actually received it yeah you know and so there is escro fees and all that so you probably say 40,000 after escra and all that stuff you're probably going to be like 44,000 or something like that you know but still every little bit it's a grant repayable so they can use helck too you

00:44:29    mean know they can run I mean they can run their numbers and basically you know sometimes the interest from the helck or whatever loan they got is going to be you know the the range is going to cover it so it makes sense to have something like that well you're building Equity yes and the payment somebody's going to car that payment so it's like you're going to be okay and then when the rates go down you'll be able to be in put yourself in a different position you know that shows that you know once you

00:44:51    build an 0 Union house you your Equity goes 35% some cases and so R is going higher I mean you know why not right well yeah I mean you're adding square foot times price per square foot I mean so if you're doing 500 it's 500 times that $300 a square foot or 350 or whatever it is that's a lot of money for most people and some people maybe some people want to do it but you know they just don't know how right so and that's why we're here we can help them no exactly this is the next Gold Rush so thank you for sharing all that

00:45:18    information again how does the audience get a hold of you more uh you know Spa SP design.com um and they can also reach me at 61 9 31231 Z yeah awesome Willi thank you so much for bringing us such an awesome guest today Omar thank you so much for joining us for friends and mortgage Heros and everyone that's tuning in watching on YouTube remember to subscribe hit the like button and share this video with someone you know who's been talking about Adu or doing a garage conversion make sure they get to

00:45:41    know Omar they connect with him and also if you have not yet subscribed to watch the friends of Mor here's episodes It's a whole playlist here on the channel you can watch our other episodes with trust and estate attorneys real estate attorney we got Realtors we got insurance folks lots of friends property managers lots of people who are coming by to join us and uh we hope that you get great value out of the show thank you so much for watching and we'll see you again next week yep happy 2024 see

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