Converted garage as income-earning small home in exurban LA
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2014
- When Chris Aune bought his home in Lancaster, California, he was looking for a place for just himself and his dogs so he didn't need all 1400 square feet. He also didn't need a "home for his car" so he converted his garage into his home.
He now rents the original home for more than the cost of his mortgage and figures he can pay off his home in 4 or 5 years. Meanwhile, he parks in the driveway and lives comfortably in the 575-square-foot ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit- AKA backyard cottage, granny flat, in-law unit).
* Filmed by Johnny Sanphillippo -- more of his stories about urbanism, adaptation & resilience: granolashotgun.com/
Original story: faircompanies.com/videos/view/... - Jak na to + styl
I also live in a converted garage studio, with my husband and dog. It's small but we love our place and the neighborhood. It helps keep the clutter down, expenses and our dog has a backyard to enjoy. It's our little oasis on the west side of LA.
And....legal or no? Just curious.
So do I wanna know about its legal status as it is too enticing to live in😇
I moved to Oregon from the west side/SM, to find a less expensive way of life, but it's getting expensive here too, now. I'd love to live in a conversion like that.
OK! THIS VIDEO IS 6 YEARS OLD! And I am JUST seeing it today! I agree with the consensus, that Chris, you "thought it through first", and made a VERY SMART DECISION! You show extraordinary wisdom at your age. Not many Californians, would go this route, at the outset, of purchasing a new home. Kudos you, although it's belated, for a job well done!!!
As far as all the tiny house ideas I LOVE this one the best. It seems to be more practical and he is making money. I believe a lot of the tiny house build are not going to last and have no resale value like this mans house. GOOD WORK AND GOD BLESS!
This is so amazing because we need more affordable housing, everywhere. Great that the city of Lancaster understands that.
Very creative. The common thread in all these small home stories is how the owners appreciate life more with less.
Funny about the dog still adjusting, going to the big house for treats.
Tom Swinburn agreed on that, work smarter, not harder! Good dog. Haha
Absolutely
Bonobo3D I don’t think the dog is happy.
The part about the coming over brought back memories of when i moved into my house. My neighbors dog alway came over to visit. I would get home and she would be on my porch. I would get a treat and walk her home.
She's not adjusting....she's smart! Double the treats
DUDE ! since you don't use your *computer* as much, *Hook it with your TV* (ditch the monitor & add some Wireless Keyboard/mouse) - that way you can reclaim the computer table space, may be put a bar fridge or something! Nevertheless, cool house, bro!
That's what I do. I don't buy cable. I pay for internet and Netflix at the moment. My computer sits alongside my TV, connected to it via HDMI, and that is PLENTY for entertainment and when I need my computer for something else, I have my large TV screen as my monitor. Wireless keyboard and mouse. I just have to remember to dust off my laptop from time to time! :)
I saw a concrete floor in a magazine once that had been buffed to perfect smoothness, then a pro painter was hired to come in and paint a beautiful marble design on the whole thing, and then, it was sealed with several clear protective coats. It was gorgeous, and nearly undetectable from real marble. :)
My neighbors in TX had Concrete Floors and it was a Fade that started as far as I know 13 to 15 years ago. You can paint them 'different ways' and 'different colors' and then use the Clear Protective Coat on them. Too hard on me for I have arthritis but I like them. The couple next door to me had 2 small children and EVEN in TX in the winter said it was too cold so they changed and put a Floor Down. It was 2 cold for the adults too!
That sounds so lovely...!
I would rent this because of the quality of the kitchen.
100%!!!!!!!
It is IKEA cabinets same in the bathroom They are durable and efficient.
Had to watch when I realized this is my neighborhood! Great conversion.
I like the house, it´s clutter free and has everything you need. I also like that it pays on its own. Good job!
Smart kid...great idea! When my son and his wife divorced, my daughter in law and 2 grandkids moved into our little retirement home nearby..we are staying in our bigger house until the grandkids are out of school and don’t need the house anymore...we had a rec room in the attic above our garage..we converted it into a studio apartment..now my son, who has serious health problems, lives there...our daughter in law and the little ones remain in the bosom of the family...the rent they pay helps us, a retired couple, and they have affordable rent...they r able to live life..without being saddles w huge rent...it’s a win win for all of us...more families should do this...it was not uncommon years ago..families had to stick together and work together...esp with children involved..
Wow now thats an interesting set up there.
You are correct...more familes should do this!!
chadzwife1 it’s actually a great set up...it’s better for the grandchildren..keeps things stable..
Days With A Kay thank you...it’s a rough old world sometimes...families have to stick together..I remember my mother talking about how her family, during the Great Depression, moved back to the family farm...everyone in the family ended up there for awhile..until things got better...I see no shame in families living together..sometimes it’s about survival..♥️
this set up is common and a mainstay in the east -- it's just western mentality to separate as soon as you become an "adult" which makes no sense when you can save all around and help each other rather than each familly having their own house.
This is the best conversion of a small space I ever saw. Nice, cozy yet elegant..especially the kitchen. All he need to do is add some paint and art to the space and he space will become a luxury living.
This home is beautiful .
I’ve lived in worse as a student nurse for years. Great way to clear the mortgage in five years or so.
I agree a Murphy bed would open the main living space, I have seen Murphy Beds that when folded up convert into a couch, and cabinates, so they have a dual function and do Not give the awkward feel of being inside someones bedroom and whatknought, i think the word whatknaught is completely underused, he should said it at least another
50 times or more times and whatnaught
I LOVE the idea of Murphy Beds but are they comfortable? I mean the mattress? I always wonder about that.
French doors replacing the window behind the recliner opening up to a deck. More living space.
I think you did a great job and made a very wise choice. Good for you. Glad you also take care of your dogs so well.
I remember seeing your video some years back, and was so glad you posted. Thank you again.
I really like this place. Thank you for letting me watch it.
that is such a great project... job well done and the best part is the dogs in the house, and what makes it a HOME.
This is a great idea,to pay off the mortgage or for your parents .
Good for you! You definitely have the right idea! I also have a large garage independent from my home that also has the same potential! Thank you for your idea!
Lovely! One idea, switch the door handle opening on the refrigerator so it opens right to left. Its easy, its a matter of changing the hinges from one side to another. It is much more functional and ergonomic. Way to go! I love it!!!
Please do this. It drove me nuts seeing that.
fwapcom lol;) Maybe he's left handed? (i.e. open door and use left hand to grab stuff)
I agree , change doors, so many wasted steps !
Every mother wants their child to meet a smart sensitive partner like this....BRAVO...BRAVO..!!!!
Good on you Chris Aune. You'll be mortgage free in 5years. Someone else paying your mortgage off. You built yourself a living space you are content to live in, or your Mom can live in, in her golden years. My interet piqued when I think I heard the tenant say "Kia Ora" which is a Maori greeting, so make me wonder if he is a New Zealander? Great video, awesome little living space for a single person.:)
Another great video... Always enjoyed...
Beautiful and comfortable home! I love it!!!!
Fantasticccccccccccccccc set up !! always loved converted garages .... beautiful stuff here
i also like his cycle easy to ride . this man is smart. he freely shared.
Really great vid, I didn't realize LA is allowing the conversions now. You spent great time making this vid, it's very professional, and also gives me hope that I will be able to do the same thing in ventura county some day.
BEAUTIFULLY DONE. LOVE IT💖
It would be a lovely place for a single person to live, great ideas keep popping up and this was one.
Excellent. Thank you for the info. Very Inspirational! Good Luck!
This looks very classy. Love it. I'm pretty sure he meant to say the the water meter alone was 3500.00, not 35,000. due to the fact that his project only cost him 30,000.00 total.
But to be sure 3500.00 just for a separate water meter is very expensive. Gret video. What's NOT to love?
Actually in the bay areas a water meter runs minimum $35,000 but since the dwelling is on the same parcel cities need to allow the merging of both dwellings to one meter. Some cities charge $70,000 for a meter which is why homes are so extensive
i think he was saying how it used to be, but that now the rules were made much more friendly to infill development. i.e. they now are allowed to share a meter, and several other changes that progressive cities have made.
I'd love to live in that studio space! Drove by it the other day and it looks so much better in person. Love what you did with the place! Awesome job!
Glad to see this coming around again, use to be more common.
Props to you !!! In the long run is nothing but property value ... If you can do this do it . Glad to see your dogs still have their yard and comfort they were used to .
Awesome conversion man. I have a home with a converted attached garage. It has its own entrance. I have always wanted to make an apartment out of it. Thanks for the ideas and video. Your pups are great too. I have 4 rescue dogs as well.
Love your original house! Wish we had a tour!!
The laws have changed now, just about all the zones can convert or build a unit over your garage. Starting mine now.
You are one smart and practice man, Chris Aune.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Great idea, thank you for posting, Happy Holidays..... Abrazos
Wow. Wonderful. The dogs are sweet too.
That black one was older. Wouldn't think he'd like the concrete floors. Prob why he wanted back in the house:)
I'm enthralled by tiny homes... totally agree with getting rid of stuff you dont need. You could probably look online to get a little more feng shehu going in your bedroom/living room space however... but on the whole.. great job!
Very smart to do it . Love it . 👍
I drive by this house everyday on my way to work. It's beautiful! I'd love to have coffee with this man and talk about how he came up with this idea n get some info on how to do it!
such an amazing space, with a yard and next door to the main house very cool
City’s are getting more relaxed about garage conversions,here also in Alberta Canada 🇨🇦
i love its dog friendly - turned out so cute!
Why does every wood fence in Palmdale look like its one hit away from sawdust?
They don't know how to build proper fences.
I've been redesigning houses in the AV for years, so this isn't new to me. I've actually done a house just down the street where this house is located. But doing these conversions is the smartest way to go.
Great video and good information!
Fantastic idea. Congratulations from the Canary islands Spain.
Love this tiny house!
Absolutely Beautiful
What a great home!
I love this! I want to do this with my family. 💛🌅
I love this idea!!
I'd love to see a floor plan for this. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while now.
Most refrigerator allow one to switch the doors so that (in this case) the doors can open to the cabinet/counter top...just a thought😊
It's great. Very happy for you.
Hello 👋. Love this. Especially now with COVID LOL you are ahead of time.
This is absolutely fantastic-what an amazing situation!!! To. Be able to rent out for more than the mortgage and his house will be paid off in about five years??!!! Dude-you rock!! Good for you!! The only thing I did not like and for me personally would be awkward was the bed situation. I have never, ever liked going to friends places and the bed is right there-like...right there. Part of the living space. Yeah...that is "icky" to me for some reason. I would get some kind of Murphy bed situation-or even put the bed up on a platform-freeing up the space underneath-which could be used for the stationary computer, or a reading area, or anything you want it to be!!! Otherwise I think the situation is just amazing-good for him!
Yeah, I would murphy bed it. Hes prob not there except at night tho and some day time on the weekends. I expect he goes alot as the climate is so nice. But TO ME it would be worth having a murphy bed for the even few times a month I wanted it up out of the way.
Then again, I would never not have kids so I would never live in this set up lol
Great job!
Damn, I love his place. The way he has it furnished I would move in there in a second.
Btw. What is the update, is he still living in this space?
Lol I love the house hate the way it’s furnished. IKEA here I come
I love the space.
I love what he’s done with the space. It looks great. The only thing I didn’t like was that he kept saying “what not”.. after a while it started getting my nerves but it was so cool I watched the whole thing :)
I like this small house, and it has a doggy door!
Did he say the separate water hookup was $35,000? I can see why people did un-permitted spaces.
The one thing I dislike about the open space concept is not being able to close my bedroom off while cooking. Even with my door closed, every time my hubby cooks garlic bread it seems to be in the bed covers.
Good job. Smart use of space.
Love the idea esp in Ca!
Very nice.
beautiful!
I liked it very creative it's just him and a few dogs plenty of space and he can rent out his other house and not have to worry about keeping up with that so I find it smart and creative little bachelor pad reminds me of
Would you ever consider renting it? I mean if you ever move back in to the big house?
Great conversion tho! Quality work!
I didn't know the city of Lancaster would allow that. That's great!
Have a some what similar situation. What I am wondering about is plumbing? Assume the garage has a concrete floor. Did that have to be tore up in order to hook up to city sewer and water?
Hey, props for coming up with a way to keep your home and not get lose it like so many others during the recession. As nice as you made the garage look with appliances and cabinets, I'm surprised you want to keep the "commercial look" of cement floors not even epoxied or painting the outside of the garage but to each their own. You are getting a property paid for that you'll have in the future and if you roll the additional income over to principle payments should have the house paid for in about 5-10 years.
If you are single and can live like that, it's great. Good for you bro.
Except he invested 30 grand in the renovation.....
Toni Bartling As a mortgage loan originator, that's fine. It just ads property value and listening to what he had to say was correct. He stayed on the premises so it can now be considered a income property and (don't know if he mentioned this one) but his portion of the renovation a tax write off! He didn't even need to take the money out of pocket! We have (as a direct lender) what is known as a 203k plan which will pay for that renovation for him but "is not" a HELOC or 2nd on the home! Very important because it forces the lift of value on your home and is done at an extremely low rate in one single loan within the first (again, not a second or HELOC).
Further, think about what he just did. Are you aware there were 112,498 U.S. properties from the month of Jan-Feb 2014? How many of those could have done the same thing and saved their home and investment? He now has like he mentioned a temporary alternative where his homes mortgage totally paid for plus a few extra hundred dollars residual income monthly but even better, in about 5 years he will be paid off in full (if he rolls that residual over to principle) and will have the entire home for both him, his possible future family (apparently he is single) and his mother for the upgraded studio and it'll be completely FREE and CLEAR!
His thinking isn't unique, it's not something few can do, it's just something in our society we just don't do and yet how many do you know lost their homes or had to short sale only to move to an apartment they will never own and is a major 100% loss of investment (it's no investment)?
It's simple and more important he took the time to do it! Keep in mind that as of today and for the last 2 years, it is actually cheaper to own a home and pay a mortgage than it is to rent! Rent exceeds that of a Mortgage by 24% or greater in the years of 2011-2014 because of the lack of supply, especially in the state of California! In short, you could buy a home and make a 24% profit in renting it back to someone and where are you going to be able to do that with most conventional investments these days? Mutual Funds don't do it, you can't make anything with a Bank Savings account anymore, the Money Market is too volatile and Stocks are riskier.
Finally, a 203k has very low qualification requirements so even those with low FICO scores or are in distress can qualify and what a great opportunity over a short sell or even worse, a foreclosure!
Many people (myself in fact) have properties that can be zoned as well for "granny flats". This just means it can't have it's own separate address but I can build a add-on to my back yard detached from my home and turn it into income if I wanted. In my case, I'm just going to make it an additional office and game room for when I want to work from home instead of the office. A 203k is for any home improvement, not just investment properties but does have to add value to the home in most cases.
I'm not trying to sell anything here, but if anyone wants to know more about a 203k plan you can always ask me or another financial adviser -I don't charge for consultations though on youtube....lol
If anyone has a mortgage related question, feel free to PM me if it is personal or not related to this video. I'm always happy to help.
"Was his $30k investment worth it? Absolutely! If it didn't increase the home value by at-least that much, I'd project without knowing his address and only city location he mentioned that he'll earn it back in less than a year."
IMPORTANT NOTE: Notice how he kept saying he did it "legally". I'm making the assumption here that he pulled permits and didn't just clean up a garage for $30k.
Yes if he moves to the main house then yes you're right. However he said it in a way that made me think he was referring to a different location. Also, many of us don't use our garages for our cars. Many of us convert the upper portion of our garages into apartments and the lower level into a shop.
Great idea Conversion. How did you do your plumbing?
Beautiful
I would love to do this to my place. A few more years til the kids head off then I’ll be free to organise options
Aww. Abby had a hard time adjusting and goes to the neighbors to get treats from them. I had to smile at that one. Smart thinking. Great home. If it works for you, that's what counts.
nice job man, getting 1200. a month and only paying 800. for your mortgage.sounds like a no brainer, i was thinking of building a garage and puting an apartment above it.
southernmost homesteader He spent $30,000 to build the back unit!!!!!
refurbished
@@JJ-yu6og it's called an investment maybe he also has 30k
That's good but will NOT be able to Rent to Must ELDERLY which are quieter, because they have Arthritis and people with Back Problems can't walk up Stairs. Otherwise Good Plan.
Lol... he is so efficiently clean, he was having trouble looking busy!! Oh, if I only had that problem!! Hehehe
Love it!!
This is definitely what i have in mind for myself.
Brilliant!
nice shofars on the book shelf in the entry
Very NICE! Yes I would put a curtain in front of the w/d machines.
awesome job i would love to live there
nice location and house as well.
Nice conversion. Presumably some art/decoration is yet to be added ...
Im sure the house is paid off by now... this guy was so ahead of his time... I hope all is still going well for him now
I would love to do this with our garage, but our city zoning bylaws are idiotic - and we have a huge housing crisis in our city. There's about a 1% or less vacancy rate - probably closer to zero, since we had a natural disaster that took out a lot of rental properties in the downtown core. City council has been talking about this for years, but they haven't done anything about it.
There are so many little stupid rules that between city bylaws and insurance requirements (that change every year, it seems) sometimes it doesn't even feel like you own your own home. People should be free to do what they want with their property - as long as it's reasonable and safe.
It's all about property taxes.
Would mix use zoing allow this sort of thing to convert a garage into a house?
Dude! Love your SPG!
Brilliant..!!!!
Reverse the doors handles on your fridge to open towards the kitchen. Murphy bed?
This is awesome! I wish I could do this at my house.
I drove by this house the other day it in a very nice quiet area close to the blvd