Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Paul Dashefsky.
Serial entrepreneur and founder of Maxwell, a platform focused on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), also known as tiny homes:
🎯 Purpose of the Interview
To educate listeners on the growing trend of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), their practical uses, legal considerations, and how platforms like Maxwell help homeowners navigate the process of building or buying tiny homes—especially in light of new options like Amazon’s prefab homes.
🗝️ Key Takeaways
-
What Are ADUs?
- Formerly known as tiny homes or granny flats, ADUs are small, secondary housing units built on residential properties.
- They range from 150 to 1200 square feet and serve various purposes: rentals, studios, housing for aging parents, or personal retreats.
-
Growing Popularity
- Driven by housing shortages and affordability issues, especially in states like California.
- Governments are easing restrictions to allow more ADUs to be built, including San Diego’s initiative to allow unlimited ADUs if they’re affordable.
-
Use Cases
- Rental income
- Housing for retirees or aging parents
- Studios (music, yoga), guest houses, or nanny quarters
-
Amazon’s Entry
- Amazon now sells prefab two-story tiny homes under \$50,000.
- While appealing, buyers must understand the additional costs and logistics: foundation, utilities, permits, and construction.
-
Legal & Practical Considerations
- ADUs must be permitted and built to code to be safe and legally rentable.
- Homeowners should consult their city’s building department before starting.
- A certificate of occupancy is required for someone to legally live in the unit.
-
Maxwell Platform
- Offers resources, videos, and guidance for anyone interested in building or buying ADUs.
- Helps users find reliable contractors and understand the full scope of building an ADU.
-
Impact on Property Value
- ADUs generally increase property value by adding rentable living space.
- They are a viable wealth-building strategy through real estate investment.
-
Social Impact
- ADUs could be a solution to homelessness by providing affordable housing options.
- Cities like San Diego are already exploring this potential.
💬 Notable Quotes
- “You’re not building a Lego kit here.” — Paul Dashefsky on the complexity of constructing ADUs
- “There’s no success without sacrifice.” — Rushion McDonald, echoing the theme of entrepreneurship
- “Go down to your building department at your city and ask them what guidelines they have.” — Paul’s advice on starting an ADU project
- “If you invest in real estate… that’s a great way to build wealth.” — Paul on the financial benefits of ADUs
- “I wish America would look at the possibilities of seeing what ADUs can do for the homeless community.” — Rushion McDonald on the social potential of tiny homes
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and information that
this show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
If you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click
the be a Guest button. Chris submit and information will
(00:22):
come directly to me. Now, let's get this show started.
My guest is a serial entrepreneur and authority on taming holmes.
They're officially called accessory dwelling units. Now well, Amazon is
now selling a two story tiny home for under fifty
thousand dollars, complete with bacconies and picture windows. Can you
believe that my guess is personally built and renovated over
(00:44):
three hundred and fifty homes and encounter the frustrations that
arise when contractors failed to meet expectations. Buckle up, it's
tiny home time. Please. Welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Paul Dryshefski. How you doing, Paul?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Thank you, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Rashan.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay, Paul, I got to get this question that accessory
dwelling units when it stop being tiny homes. Man, tiny
homes worked so many brothers.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, well you and I were talking about that. I
like tiny homes. I like granny flats. That was good marketing.
Now they're accessory dwelling units, which is a mouthful. So
let's call them ad us. We call them ADUs out
here in Californa.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Okay. Cool. Now I'm based in Atlanta, Georgia, and I've
been aware of Tony Holmes for years. I remember I
was in Houston, where I'm also living. Houston in twenty seventeen,
they was creating tiny home communities, you know, really creating
modern community. Tell me the history if you can of
tiny homes and why you know, we can look at
(01:44):
the price tag, but why they why people are like
finding it. I'm comfortable with living in the tiny home
space now, I.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Mean here on the West coast, and really this is
this is happening all over the country. The government really
want to find housing alternatives, right, we want to densify housing,
we want to bring housings too expensive. We want options
for all sorts of folks. And so they said, really,
anyone in the state here can build a second home
(02:16):
on their property. And that never used to be the case.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You were never.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Allowed to build a second home on your property because that,
you know, that densifies everything, that creates a duplex in
a sense. Now everybody can do it, and that's a
big deal because that provides all sorts of folks a
great place to live because they are small, right, they
are tiny homes. A lot of what we see being
built are six hundred, seven hundred and eight hundred square
foot homes. Great for singles, great for couples, great for
(02:42):
retirees that don't need their large home anymore. All the
home builders, they're building these big homes, two twenty five hundred,
three thousand square foot homes, which is great, great for families,
but lots of people need other options, smaller type homes.
And so that's why I think this is becoming trend.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
OK. I would tell you in my fair first apartment
was seven hundred square feet. It was one of those
split It was a studio, but it had a wall
in it, and I was very, very comfortable living in
seven hundred square feet when I think about it. So
for you, you saying that a tainy home is six
hundred square feet. That sounds douable. In my mind, doesn't
seem like because I think that the word tainy kind
(03:19):
of makes it seem like it really is a small space,
but it really is a live space because I was
very comfortable living in seven hundred square feet. What are
your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, for sure, I mean that's a good size apartment.
We're seeing them anywhere from one hundred and fifty square feet,
real small, right all the way up the state here
allows up to twelve hundred square feet. Oh so when
you say tiny, you know, twelve hundredquare feet is not tiny.
That's a house.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, my first home was fourteen hundred square feet. That
was a two bedroom, one bath. I'm just giving people contexts.
When you start using the word tanning homes of eighty
US as they're called now, is that when you talk
talking about seven hundred square feet, I've lived that third
first apartment you're talking about. Would you say eleven hundred
homes of what? Twelve twelve hundred my very first house,
(04:06):
and I was with one bed, with a one car garage.
I had a That was my first house. So have
you ever my friend lived in a tainy home.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I have never lived in a tiny home.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Okay, so you are authority. What excites you about talking
about tiny homes? And we're going to get to the
fact that Amazon is now selling them for under fifty
thousand dollars, But I really want to get into the
whole live aspect and then also the design and Plus
you've renovated over three hundred and fifty homes in your career,
(04:40):
talk to us about tiny homes.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So we started this company called Maximle. And this company
is online and it's a resource for anything and everything,
accessory dwelling units, tiny homes, granny flats. Right, someone's thinking
about it, the first thing they need to do is research,
because it's still a house, right, It's still a home,
whether you buy it from Amazon or you built to yourself.
It's no joke. You're not building a Lego kit here.
(05:03):
So you need to know what you're doing, how to
design it, what it costs, how to finance it. So
that's what my company, Maxibell does. Now what gets me
so excited about it is the use cases. So a
second home in your yard, a tiny home in your yard,
can be used for so many things. We have lots
of clients coming to us. Some of them, about fifty percent,
(05:24):
will say I want to build a home in my
backyard an a du to rent because I want some
rental income. I want, you know, to put that nurse
in the back, or I want to put somebody in
the back of my yard and help me pay my
mortgage with that rental income. So rental income, but lots
of people want to start a music studio back there.
They want to have their own yoga studio back there.
Maybe they're retirees and they need to go and they
(05:45):
want to live in the back in the backyard because
they don't need their large home anymore. The use cases
are really significant and interesting, and so when people build
these things, they're building themselves, building it for themselves. But
once they say all that home, maybe the next buyer
is going to use that accessory dwelling unit for something else,
maybe in nanny. Maybe when you have a baby, you
(06:06):
could put your nanny back there. Maybe you can move
mom back there. You don't want to living in a
senior facility. So I love the use cases.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, you know, first of all, education is a powerful thing.
Because you took me from humor to reality by mentioning parents.
You know, We have a really issue with housing for
parents because we never plan for our parents, get know,
where do they go? And being in a tiny home
facility seven hundred square feet, that's a lot that you
(06:36):
can put on your property. Then you mentioned you know,
Then you mentioned nurse, which is another situation. Then I
love the other thought that you brought up extra income
you took this from because a lot of people want
to know. Back in the day, it was always building
a garage over your putting an apartment over your garage.
But you don't have to do that. But I want
(06:56):
to slow this down for a minute, Paul. In my mind,
I thought a tiny home was just already manufactured, just
bring it in, just flop it down. But I keep
hearing you use the word build. Tiny homes aren't like
mobile homes. You can just go pick them out and
just put them on a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Are you got a few options? Mostly out here people
are building their own units. They're designing them to fit
their backyard, They're they're designing them to be permanent structures.
That's what we think of ad us.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
But there are you're talking you're talking about the Amazon product.
There are what we call the other the other side
of the spectrum pre fab prefabricated gravitation right, built in
a built in a factory, uh, craned in on your lot.
But those are built those aren't customs, right, So you
got to pick one. I'll take this one or I'll
take that one. That's another option too, But just remember,
(07:51):
you know, you got to get those big boys delivered
and that costs something. And you got to get them
craned in right lot. That costs something.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
And then I'll bring up what people usually forget when
they think about buying one of those or a home
on Amazon, is somebody's kind of got to put the
thing together. And even if it comes kind of constructed,
someone's got to build a footing, a foundation on your
propert People kind of forget that. You don't just PLoP
it down on dirt. Usually someone's got to build a foundation.
And then most importantly, someone's kind of connected to the
(08:21):
utilities because they don't come with their own water source
or power source or gas source. You know, so you
really do need a local contractor to kind of help
you put it all together. It makes it sound easy
when it comes from Amazon, but there's some complications.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
What the complications are you help us get through that
with your experience? Tell us about your background renovating homes,
dealing with a nightmarriage contractors. I think that that's the
nightmare that every homeowner or a person who rents a
home deals with. Talk about your experience and how did
you get in the home building business or renovation business.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Paul, Yeah, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I'm my backgrounds real estate, right and about fifteen years
ago I started flipping and building homes here in southern
California and we just did that for a while and
we ended up building and flipping three hundred and fifty homes,
so we did quite a few. And nowadays I'm helping
with this company Maxibell. I'm building my own accessory dwelling
units here on my own properties, so I'm doing a
lot of that.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And You're right.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
When I was flipping and building homes, we would either
have a really good experience with the contractor or a
really bad experience with the contractor. And I kind of
wondered about that, why why is this industry so challenging?
And I found statistics from a few years back for
Sean They interviewed people after they remodeled and they asked
them if they had a good experience. Fifty percent said
they had a negative experience with their contractor their remodel.
(09:46):
Fifty percent. I thought that's pretty high. I have a
one and two chance that was worse than Las Vegas.
You have a one in two chance of you know,
having a really bad experience. And I thought, what if
we could help people, What if we could help people
find the right contractor. And so we provide recent sources
to make sure that when you're looking for a contractor
for your adu or whatever, your kitchen remodel, whatever it
is you're doing around your house, you better do your homework.
(10:09):
Don't trust that guy that just comes in your door
and sweet toksy and smells nice and tells you that
to help be back tomorrow if you just give him
a check today. You gotta be real, real careful. There's
too many horror stories out there where you pay somebody
and you never see them again.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We will be right back with more insights from Money
Making Conversations Masteric Class. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation
master Class hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Money Making Conversation
master Class continues online at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and
(10:46):
follow money Making Conversations master Class on Facebook X and Instagram.
And when you talk about let's go to Amazon a
little bit about that's what attracted my daughter. She saw
your name, she looked at she said, dag they got
the houses in the twenty nine thousand and under fifty
thousand and back on this and two stories, so the
(11:08):
evolution of the.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Taining home or the ADU. Because when I first saw
them on TV, you know, there was just basically I
laughed at them. I'm gonna be honest with you, Paul,
I never live in there. I've never lived there. Because
they were talking about one hundred and fifty square feed
two hundred square I was like, how does anybody live
in there? But when you start throwing out numbers like
six hundred square feet a twelve hundred square feet? Is
(11:31):
that what you involved in building custom building out or
you will also do the smaller versions as well.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Look, there's there's a you know, we're a resource for
everything that folks are looking at. They should do their
homework right and they can come to our site and
take a look around. But there's You're right, there's a
couple of different options, right, So you talked about the
big ones. Yes, the six seven hundred square feet those
are generally built by a contractor in your backyard. You're
going to hire a legitimate general contractor, get an architected,
(12:00):
designed the plans and and build it right there in
your backyard. So that's option one usually probably the most expensive,
because you're getting a real house, right. Option two is
the little tiny one hundred and fifty square foot ones
you talk about. They're usually mobile, right, They almost they
can almost drive them in, drive them onto your property.
Real small, real they have tiny, little kitchen and you
know whatnot that's you know, almost like living in a
(12:22):
motor home in a sense. And then there's stuff in
the middle, like these Amazon homes or these prefabricated homes.
You know, maybe there there's a site called a website
called boxable that's really interesting. They kind of come the
house kind of comes folded up, if you can believe it,
almost like Orgambi, and they fold it up, put it
on a truck, bring it to your site, and unfold it.
And you have a house that's probably about two hundred
(12:44):
square feet something like that, and fifty square.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Feet pans that that would I got a foldable house,
I swear, and you just and they do it. But
you do tell everybody make sure you get contracted, you
try to do it. That's the number one message I'm
hearing from this interview.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Well, look on the Amazon Home you gotta be careful, right,
you know what you're buying is is just a bunch
of parts, right, you know, I mean you got to
really be careful. Unless you're really really handy, you know
how to work that nail gun. You need some help.
You're gonna need a local contractor to help you out,
no question.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, Cool, you mentioned Maximo. That's the platform that they
can go to. What is the experience that you're offering
to anybody who's listening to the show, And just make
sure we get the correct website so we drive them there.
What is the experience and what do they get? And
do they register to get the digital information? Do they do?
Is it virtual tours? Are there dimensional drawings on your website?
(13:45):
Talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, we kind of have it all. We have a
pretty good YouTube channel with you know, I don't know
one hundred or so videos that people can search through
that can look at this kind of tiny home that
you and I talked about, or something different. They can
look at designs a research site. We want people to
do their homework. It could be us, maxable or other sites.
(14:07):
Just just check out learn about them. Don't go to
Amazon and click you know by now on one of
these things until you kind of do your homework. It's because, like.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I said earlier, and if in this interview was about
you know, I was just started in a very humorous
state all and then you start breaking down the reality
when you start talking about how you can make extra income,
how this can be a major asset. If you have
an issue with your parents who are aging, what do
(14:38):
you put them? You can put them in attaining home
on your property. Retirees can look at this as a
facility that you can go and live in. And like
I said, twelve hundred square feet is a lot. My
very first apartment I was seven hundred square feet. I
was absolutely very comfortable in that. But you did remind
me of this is that Rashwan, you still to have
(15:00):
a foundation to put this on top of. You still
got to have utilities tied into it, you still got
to have permits. Run that through my audience again, because
I don't want to. They're hearing it from me. You
are the expert. You've renervated three hundred and fifty homes
in your life to add more, and you're constantly building
custom ADUs talk to my audience about the mistakes people
(15:22):
make and how they should move forward when they come
talk to you.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, I mean folks do these things. I'll say, we
use the word illegally. They add, you know, something to
their home illegally, they had a patio cover illegally, They'll
put a tiny home in their backyard illegally. It's not ideal. Well,
it's just not ideal. You can do it without your
city permissions, but it's not ideal, right because you're you're
never going to get the value out of it when
you sell your home. You really aren't allowed to rent
(15:48):
it out.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You want to do it legally.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So that means if you whatever tiny home you're looking at,
or you you're thinking about, whether it's Amazon or somewhere else,
go down to your city's building department, tell them what
you're thinking about doing, and ask them what they need
from you so you can get it permitted correctly, done correctly.
So at the end of it you can get what's
called a certificate of occupancy. Someone's allowed to live in there.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Do it right.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You're gonna spend lots of money. This is not a
couple grand You're gonna spend lots of money. Whether it's
fifty k or one hundred kg. You and spend lots
of money.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Do it right.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
This is going to be somebody's home. Somebody's going to
live in there. You want to make sure it's safe.
You don't want to put mom into something that's not safe,
that you know isn't done correctly on the right foundation,
isn't hooked up to the electoral correctly. Go that's my
biggest advice. Go down to your building department at your
city and ask them what guidelines, what requirements they have
for you to put this thing in your backyard.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
You know, some Paul, I'll just being serious about what's
happening in our world today with the homeless situation. You know,
I live in Atlanta, and that when every time I
fly out to Los angeless like stunny. The amount of
homeless people that you see, just like I mean, if
you've never been if you've never seen a homeless situation
in a major city, you go to Los Angeles, it
(17:01):
really will stun you. And even in the city of Atlanta,
there's certain areas on the free where you can just
drive and just just a homeless village and doing the election,
and I always hear people talking about affordable house and
affordable house and affordable housing. When you start talking about
homes under a fifty thousand dollars and you're talking about
(17:23):
with balconies and picture windows. Am I crazy when I
say that this is a possible remedy for the homeless
crisis that we're dealing with in America today?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I love that idea. And not only do do I
love that idea, but I can tell you, for example,
in San Diego, because we work throughout California. In San Diego,
they have a new program in that city that allows
a property owner, let's say a property owner has a
larger sized property throughout the state, mostly you can add
one accessory dwelling unit, maybe two accessory dwelling units. San
(17:55):
Diego said, if you make them affordable, if you restrict
their affordability for folks that you know, to keep that
those those rents low, you can build as many accessory
dwelling units on your property as you want no limit.
So right, like you said, you know, build eight of those,
make them affordable, make the rents something somebody can reasonably pay,
and yeah, you take people off the street potentially.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
That's great. Now, when it comes to adu's property value,
that's always a big statement. You know, putting a taining home.
Does it decrease your value of your property? What does
that do? And what? In particularly I live in Atlanta,
do you look like you've lost your mind if you
put a tiny home on an acre of property or
five acres of property? What I know you live into California,
(18:41):
what property space is smaller? And it makes sense sometimes
just slide a taining home in there. Now we're talking
to the real world, which is outside of California. Talk
to us about the tiny home value to properties and
what type of property size works for a tiny home.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Look, I mean to me, it's pretty simple. You're putting
a whole second home, a living structure onto your property.
You have your main house. Let's say you could rent
that for whatever amount you could rent it. But now
you have a second property and somebody could live there.
And if somebody's gonna live they're not gonna live there
for free. They're gonna pay you rent, and so I
think you've just enhanced the value of your property.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You're making money.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Your audience knows that. You know, if you invest in
real estate, if you have one rental unit, two rental units,
that's a great way to build wealth. So I think
you add a tiny home or accessory dwelling into your property,
you're only enhancing the value of that property. And in
terms of size, I think it's a matter of what
fits on your property. Like you said, whether you're at
(19:41):
California with smaller lots, whether you're in Atlanta with larger lots,
whatever fits and fits you know nicely and generously and
makes sense for you. They're here, our regulations don't require
a minimum lot size. So I think whatever works for you,
it's great.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now enthusiasm, they always say, marketing is how people find
out about certain things. Now Amazon selling a two story
tiny home for under fifty thousand dollars, I was like,
complete with balconies and picture windows, and that's that giant
window you love on your home. Okay, when you hear that,
and you, being a guy of ADU, talk to us
(20:19):
about where Amazon may be taking this brand and how
I may become a mass appeal throughout the entire country.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Look, I love it. It's great marketing. Amazon's right, a
big name, So if they're doing something that's really interesting,
I remember before my time, to be honest with you, Rashana,
and I'm not that young. I remember I heard that
the Seiers Catalog used to sell a house. Okay, so
I remember that, right, you remember hearing about that? So
this maybe this is the next version of the Seriers
Catalog selling a house. I think it's really interesting. But
(20:52):
I also think whether it's Amazon or somebody else, there
needs to be an educational component here, because again, I
don't think the average person that hits click now today
to buy that house is going to be happy with
the way things turn out. I think they need to
understand what they get and what they don't get. And
like we talked about, uh, it's really hard to do
(21:13):
unless you're to build something like that, unless you're really
really handy, and I think you need a local contractor
to help you out, and I think you need your
local city to be on board. So I don't want
to call it a gimmick like you said, you call
it marketing, right, marketing. It's been marketing. But I'd love
to hear from the people that bought those and find out,
you know, what kind of experience they had and how
(21:35):
they ended up.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You know, if we close this out, you know, mobile
home parks, you know, and then now you have tiny homes.
Now they call it adu's And somehow ADUs sound a
little bit more sexier than mobile home parks. How did
that happen? How did the ADU? Because I guess again, marketing,
but it seems like I would tell you this, Paul,
(21:57):
are much more receptive to buy the ad you than
buying a mobile home, and that is marketing, and that
is the business you're in. I wish you good luck,
my friend, and I'm pretty sure my daughter, once she
hears this interview, she's going to be even more motivated
to buy an ADU. But you gave me such such
(22:17):
such tremendous tips on how to look at this whole
community that's going out there, and I hope I'm just
a guy on a on the show. And I wish
America would look at the possibilities of seeing what ADUs
can do for the homeless community, because we have to
do something, and we have to get these people Off
the Street.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode or want
to register to be a guest on my show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Join us next week. Remember to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Keep winning.
Hi. I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and information that
this show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
If you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click
the be a Guest button. Chris submit and information will
(00:22):
come directly to me. Now, let's get this show started.
My guest is a serial entrepreneur and authority on taming holmes.
They're officially called accessory dwelling units. Now well, Amazon is
now selling a two story tiny home for under fifty
thousand dollars, complete with bacconies and picture windows. Can you
believe that my guess is personally built and renovated over
(00:44):
three hundred and fifty homes and encounter the frustrations that
arise when contractors failed to meet expectations. Buckle up, it's
tiny home time. Please. Welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Paul Dryshefski. How you doing, Paul?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Thank you, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Rashan.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay, Paul, I got to get this question that accessory
dwelling units when it stop being tiny homes. Man, tiny
homes worked so many brothers.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, well you and I were talking about that. I
like tiny homes. I like granny flats. That was good marketing.
Now they're accessory dwelling units, which is a mouthful. So
let's call them ad us. We call them ADUs out
here in Californa.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Okay. Cool. Now I'm based in Atlanta, Georgia, and I've
been aware of Tony Holmes for years. I remember I
was in Houston, where I'm also living. Houston in twenty seventeen,
they was creating tiny home communities, you know, really creating
modern community. Tell me the history if you can of
tiny homes and why you know, we can look at
(01:44):
the price tag, but why they why people are like
finding it. I'm comfortable with living in the tiny home
space now, I.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Mean here on the West coast, and really this is
this is happening all over the country. The government really
want to find housing alternatives, right, we want to densify housing,
we want to bring housings too expensive. We want options
for all sorts of folks. And so they said, really,
anyone in the state here can build a second home
(02:16):
on their property. And that never used to be the case.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You were never.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Allowed to build a second home on your property because that,
you know, that densifies everything, that creates a duplex in
a sense. Now everybody can do it, and that's a
big deal because that provides all sorts of folks a
great place to live because they are small, right, they
are tiny homes. A lot of what we see being
built are six hundred, seven hundred and eight hundred square
foot homes. Great for singles, great for couples, great for
(02:42):
retirees that don't need their large home anymore. All the
home builders, they're building these big homes, two twenty five hundred,
three thousand square foot homes, which is great, great for families,
but lots of people need other options, smaller type homes.
And so that's why I think this is becoming trend.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
OK. I would tell you in my fair first apartment
was seven hundred square feet. It was one of those
split It was a studio, but it had a wall
in it, and I was very, very comfortable living in
seven hundred square feet when I think about it. So
for you, you saying that a tainy home is six
hundred square feet. That sounds douable. In my mind, doesn't
seem like because I think that the word tainy kind
(03:19):
of makes it seem like it really is a small space,
but it really is a live space because I was
very comfortable living in seven hundred square feet. What are
your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, for sure, I mean that's a good size apartment.
We're seeing them anywhere from one hundred and fifty square feet,
real small, right all the way up the state here
allows up to twelve hundred square feet. Oh so when
you say tiny, you know, twelve hundredquare feet is not tiny.
That's a house.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, my first home was fourteen hundred square feet. That
was a two bedroom, one bath. I'm just giving people contexts.
When you start using the word tanning homes of eighty
US as they're called now, is that when you talk
talking about seven hundred square feet, I've lived that third
first apartment you're talking about. Would you say eleven hundred
homes of what? Twelve twelve hundred my very first house,
(04:06):
and I was with one bed, with a one car garage.
I had a That was my first house. So have
you ever my friend lived in a tainy home.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I have never lived in a tiny home.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Okay, so you are authority. What excites you about talking
about tiny homes? And we're going to get to the
fact that Amazon is now selling them for under fifty
thousand dollars, But I really want to get into the
whole live aspect and then also the design and Plus
you've renovated over three hundred and fifty homes in your career,
(04:40):
talk to us about tiny homes.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So we started this company called Maximle. And this company
is online and it's a resource for anything and everything,
accessory dwelling units, tiny homes, granny flats. Right, someone's thinking
about it, the first thing they need to do is research,
because it's still a house, right, It's still a home,
whether you buy it from Amazon or you built to yourself.
It's no joke. You're not building a Lego kit here.
(05:03):
So you need to know what you're doing, how to
design it, what it costs, how to finance it. So
that's what my company, Maxibell does. Now what gets me
so excited about it is the use cases. So a
second home in your yard, a tiny home in your yard,
can be used for so many things. We have lots
of clients coming to us. Some of them, about fifty percent,
(05:24):
will say I want to build a home in my
backyard an a du to rent because I want some
rental income. I want, you know, to put that nurse
in the back, or I want to put somebody in
the back of my yard and help me pay my
mortgage with that rental income. So rental income, but lots
of people want to start a music studio back there.
They want to have their own yoga studio back there.
Maybe they're retirees and they need to go and they
(05:45):
want to live in the back in the backyard because
they don't need their large home anymore. The use cases
are really significant and interesting, and so when people build
these things, they're building themselves, building it for themselves. But
once they say all that home, maybe the next buyer
is going to use that accessory dwelling unit for something else,
maybe in nanny. Maybe when you have a baby, you
(06:06):
could put your nanny back there. Maybe you can move
mom back there. You don't want to living in a
senior facility. So I love the use cases.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, you know, first of all, education is a powerful thing.
Because you took me from humor to reality by mentioning parents.
You know, We have a really issue with housing for
parents because we never plan for our parents, get know,
where do they go? And being in a tiny home
facility seven hundred square feet, that's a lot that you
(06:36):
can put on your property. Then you mentioned you know,
Then you mentioned nurse, which is another situation. Then I
love the other thought that you brought up extra income
you took this from because a lot of people want
to know. Back in the day, it was always building
a garage over your putting an apartment over your garage.
But you don't have to do that. But I want
(06:56):
to slow this down for a minute, Paul. In my mind,
I thought a tiny home was just already manufactured, just
bring it in, just flop it down. But I keep
hearing you use the word build. Tiny homes aren't like
mobile homes. You can just go pick them out and
just put them on a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Are you got a few options? Mostly out here people
are building their own units. They're designing them to fit
their backyard, They're they're designing them to be permanent structures.
That's what we think of ad us.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
But there are you're talking you're talking about the Amazon product.
There are what we call the other the other side
of the spectrum pre fab prefabricated gravitation right, built in
a built in a factory, uh, craned in on your lot.
But those are built those aren't customs, right, So you
got to pick one. I'll take this one or I'll
take that one. That's another option too, But just remember,
(07:51):
you know, you got to get those big boys delivered
and that costs something. And you got to get them
craned in right lot. That costs something.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
And then I'll bring up what people usually forget when
they think about buying one of those or a home
on Amazon, is somebody's kind of got to put the
thing together. And even if it comes kind of constructed,
someone's got to build a footing, a foundation on your
propert People kind of forget that. You don't just PLoP
it down on dirt. Usually someone's got to build a foundation.
And then most importantly, someone's kind of connected to the
(08:21):
utilities because they don't come with their own water source
or power source or gas source. You know, so you
really do need a local contractor to kind of help
you put it all together. It makes it sound easy
when it comes from Amazon, but there's some complications.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
What the complications are you help us get through that
with your experience? Tell us about your background renovating homes,
dealing with a nightmarriage contractors. I think that that's the
nightmare that every homeowner or a person who rents a
home deals with. Talk about your experience and how did
you get in the home building business or renovation business.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Paul, Yeah, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I'm my backgrounds real estate, right and about fifteen years
ago I started flipping and building homes here in southern
California and we just did that for a while and
we ended up building and flipping three hundred and fifty homes,
so we did quite a few. And nowadays I'm helping
with this company Maxibell. I'm building my own accessory dwelling
units here on my own properties, so I'm doing a
lot of that.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And You're right.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
When I was flipping and building homes, we would either
have a really good experience with the contractor or a
really bad experience with the contractor. And I kind of
wondered about that, why why is this industry so challenging?
And I found statistics from a few years back for
Sean They interviewed people after they remodeled and they asked
them if they had a good experience. Fifty percent said
they had a negative experience with their contractor their remodel.
(09:46):
Fifty percent. I thought that's pretty high. I have a
one and two chance that was worse than Las Vegas.
You have a one in two chance of you know,
having a really bad experience. And I thought, what if
we could help people, What if we could help people
find the right contractor. And so we provide recent sources
to make sure that when you're looking for a contractor
for your adu or whatever, your kitchen remodel, whatever it
is you're doing around your house, you better do your homework.
(10:09):
Don't trust that guy that just comes in your door
and sweet toksy and smells nice and tells you that
to help be back tomorrow if you just give him
a check today. You gotta be real, real careful. There's
too many horror stories out there where you pay somebody
and you never see them again.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We will be right back with more insights from Money
Making Conversations Masteric Class. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation
master Class hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Money Making Conversation
master Class continues online at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and
(10:46):
follow money Making Conversations master Class on Facebook X and Instagram.
And when you talk about let's go to Amazon a
little bit about that's what attracted my daughter. She saw
your name, she looked at she said, dag they got
the houses in the twenty nine thousand and under fifty
thousand and back on this and two stories, so the
(11:08):
evolution of the.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Taining home or the ADU. Because when I first saw
them on TV, you know, there was just basically I
laughed at them. I'm gonna be honest with you, Paul,
I never live in there. I've never lived there. Because
they were talking about one hundred and fifty square feed
two hundred square I was like, how does anybody live
in there? But when you start throwing out numbers like
six hundred square feet a twelve hundred square feet? Is
(11:31):
that what you involved in building custom building out or
you will also do the smaller versions as well.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Look, there's there's a you know, we're a resource for
everything that folks are looking at. They should do their
homework right and they can come to our site and
take a look around. But there's You're right, there's a
couple of different options, right, So you talked about the
big ones. Yes, the six seven hundred square feet those
are generally built by a contractor in your backyard. You're
going to hire a legitimate general contractor, get an architected,
(12:00):
designed the plans and and build it right there in
your backyard. So that's option one usually probably the most expensive,
because you're getting a real house, right. Option two is
the little tiny one hundred and fifty square foot ones
you talk about. They're usually mobile, right, They almost they
can almost drive them in, drive them onto your property.
Real small, real they have tiny, little kitchen and you
know whatnot that's you know, almost like living in a
(12:22):
motor home in a sense. And then there's stuff in
the middle, like these Amazon homes or these prefabricated homes.
You know, maybe there there's a site called a website
called boxable that's really interesting. They kind of come the
house kind of comes folded up, if you can believe it,
almost like Orgambi, and they fold it up, put it
on a truck, bring it to your site, and unfold it.
And you have a house that's probably about two hundred
(12:44):
square feet something like that, and fifty square.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Feet pans that that would I got a foldable house,
I swear, and you just and they do it. But
you do tell everybody make sure you get contracted, you
try to do it. That's the number one message I'm
hearing from this interview.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Well, look on the Amazon Home you gotta be careful, right,
you know what you're buying is is just a bunch
of parts, right, you know, I mean you got to
really be careful. Unless you're really really handy, you know
how to work that nail gun. You need some help.
You're gonna need a local contractor to help you out,
no question.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, Cool, you mentioned Maximo. That's the platform that they
can go to. What is the experience that you're offering
to anybody who's listening to the show, And just make
sure we get the correct website so we drive them there.
What is the experience and what do they get? And
do they register to get the digital information? Do they do?
Is it virtual tours? Are there dimensional drawings on your website?
(13:45):
Talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, we kind of have it all. We have a
pretty good YouTube channel with you know, I don't know
one hundred or so videos that people can search through
that can look at this kind of tiny home that
you and I talked about, or something different. They can
look at designs a research site. We want people to
do their homework. It could be us, maxable or other sites.
(14:07):
Just just check out learn about them. Don't go to
Amazon and click you know by now on one of
these things until you kind of do your homework. It's because, like.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I said earlier, and if in this interview was about
you know, I was just started in a very humorous
state all and then you start breaking down the reality
when you start talking about how you can make extra income,
how this can be a major asset. If you have
an issue with your parents who are aging, what do
(14:38):
you put them? You can put them in attaining home
on your property. Retirees can look at this as a
facility that you can go and live in. And like
I said, twelve hundred square feet is a lot. My
very first apartment I was seven hundred square feet. I
was absolutely very comfortable in that. But you did remind
me of this is that Rashwan, you still to have
(15:00):
a foundation to put this on top of. You still
got to have utilities tied into it, you still got
to have permits. Run that through my audience again, because
I don't want to. They're hearing it from me. You
are the expert. You've renervated three hundred and fifty homes
in your life to add more, and you're constantly building
custom ADUs talk to my audience about the mistakes people
(15:22):
make and how they should move forward when they come
talk to you.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, I mean folks do these things. I'll say, we
use the word illegally. They add, you know, something to
their home illegally, they had a patio cover illegally, They'll
put a tiny home in their backyard illegally. It's not ideal. Well,
it's just not ideal. You can do it without your
city permissions, but it's not ideal, right because you're you're
never going to get the value out of it when
you sell your home. You really aren't allowed to rent
(15:48):
it out.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You want to do it legally.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So that means if you whatever tiny home you're looking at,
or you you're thinking about, whether it's Amazon or somewhere else,
go down to your city's building department, tell them what
you're thinking about doing, and ask them what they need
from you so you can get it permitted correctly, done correctly.
So at the end of it you can get what's
called a certificate of occupancy. Someone's allowed to live in there.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Do it right.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You're gonna spend lots of money. This is not a
couple grand You're gonna spend lots of money. Whether it's
fifty k or one hundred kg. You and spend lots
of money.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Do it right.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
This is going to be somebody's home. Somebody's going to
live in there. You want to make sure it's safe.
You don't want to put mom into something that's not safe,
that you know isn't done correctly on the right foundation,
isn't hooked up to the electoral correctly. Go that's my
biggest advice. Go down to your building department at your
city and ask them what guidelines, what requirements they have
for you to put this thing in your backyard.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
You know, some Paul, I'll just being serious about what's
happening in our world today with the homeless situation. You know,
I live in Atlanta, and that when every time I
fly out to Los angeless like stunny. The amount of
homeless people that you see, just like I mean, if
you've never been if you've never seen a homeless situation
in a major city, you go to Los Angeles, it
(17:01):
really will stun you. And even in the city of Atlanta,
there's certain areas on the free where you can just
drive and just just a homeless village and doing the election,
and I always hear people talking about affordable house and
affordable house and affordable housing. When you start talking about
homes under a fifty thousand dollars and you're talking about
(17:23):
with balconies and picture windows. Am I crazy when I
say that this is a possible remedy for the homeless
crisis that we're dealing with in America today?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I love that idea. And not only do do I
love that idea, but I can tell you, for example,
in San Diego, because we work throughout California. In San Diego,
they have a new program in that city that allows
a property owner, let's say a property owner has a
larger sized property throughout the state, mostly you can add
one accessory dwelling unit, maybe two accessory dwelling units. San
(17:55):
Diego said, if you make them affordable, if you restrict
their affordability for folks that you know, to keep that
those those rents low, you can build as many accessory
dwelling units on your property as you want no limit.
So right, like you said, you know, build eight of those,
make them affordable, make the rents something somebody can reasonably pay,
and yeah, you take people off the street potentially.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
That's great. Now, when it comes to adu's property value,
that's always a big statement. You know, putting a taining home.
Does it decrease your value of your property? What does
that do? And what? In particularly I live in Atlanta,
do you look like you've lost your mind if you
put a tiny home on an acre of property or
five acres of property? What I know you live into California,
(18:41):
what property space is smaller? And it makes sense sometimes
just slide a taining home in there. Now we're talking
to the real world, which is outside of California. Talk
to us about the tiny home value to properties and
what type of property size works for a tiny home.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Look, I mean to me, it's pretty simple. You're putting
a whole second home, a living structure onto your property.
You have your main house. Let's say you could rent
that for whatever amount you could rent it. But now
you have a second property and somebody could live there.
And if somebody's gonna live they're not gonna live there
for free. They're gonna pay you rent, and so I
think you've just enhanced the value of your property.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You're making money.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Your audience knows that. You know, if you invest in
real estate, if you have one rental unit, two rental units,
that's a great way to build wealth. So I think
you add a tiny home or accessory dwelling into your property,
you're only enhancing the value of that property. And in
terms of size, I think it's a matter of what
fits on your property. Like you said, whether you're at
(19:41):
California with smaller lots, whether you're in Atlanta with larger lots,
whatever fits and fits you know nicely and generously and
makes sense for you. They're here, our regulations don't require
a minimum lot size. So I think whatever works for you,
it's great.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now enthusiasm, they always say, marketing is how people find
out about certain things. Now Amazon selling a two story
tiny home for under fifty thousand dollars, I was like,
complete with balconies and picture windows, and that's that giant
window you love on your home. Okay, when you hear that,
and you, being a guy of ADU, talk to us
(20:19):
about where Amazon may be taking this brand and how
I may become a mass appeal throughout the entire country.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Look, I love it. It's great marketing. Amazon's right, a
big name, So if they're doing something that's really interesting,
I remember before my time, to be honest with you, Rashana,
and I'm not that young. I remember I heard that
the Seiers Catalog used to sell a house. Okay, so
I remember that, right, you remember hearing about that? So
this maybe this is the next version of the Seriers
Catalog selling a house. I think it's really interesting. But
(20:52):
I also think whether it's Amazon or somebody else, there
needs to be an educational component here, because again, I
don't think the average person that hits click now today
to buy that house is going to be happy with
the way things turn out. I think they need to
understand what they get and what they don't get. And
like we talked about, uh, it's really hard to do
(21:13):
unless you're to build something like that, unless you're really
really handy, and I think you need a local contractor
to help you out, and I think you need your
local city to be on board. So I don't want
to call it a gimmick like you said, you call
it marketing, right, marketing. It's been marketing. But I'd love
to hear from the people that bought those and find out,
you know, what kind of experience they had and how
(21:35):
they ended up.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You know, if we close this out, you know, mobile
home parks, you know, and then now you have tiny homes.
Now they call it adu's And somehow ADUs sound a
little bit more sexier than mobile home parks. How did
that happen? How did the ADU? Because I guess again, marketing,
but it seems like I would tell you this, Paul,
(21:57):
are much more receptive to buy the ad you than
buying a mobile home, and that is marketing, and that
is the business you're in. I wish you good luck,
my friend, and I'm pretty sure my daughter, once she
hears this interview, she's going to be even more motivated
to buy an ADU. But you gave me such such
(22:17):
such tremendous tips on how to look at this whole
community that's going out there, and I hope I'm just
a guy on a on the show. And I wish
America would look at the possibilities of seeing what ADUs
can do for the homeless community, because we have to
do something, and we have to get these people Off
the Street.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode or want
to register to be a guest on my show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Join us next week. Remember to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Keep winning.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.