Real Estate
Women

Garage ADUs

Efficiently converting garages into affordable work force housing.
Oakland, 
CA
Investment type:
Equity
( )
Target raise:
$100,000
 - $250,000
Minimum investment:​
$1,000
End date:
Feb 01, 2023
ended
Success to date. Developed design and secured manufacturing partner to build a modular, prefabricated garage conversion living unit. Constructed a studio conversion in San Jose, CA. A second, 1-bedroom in Burlingame, CA has approved permits and is under construction. Incentive programs launched. Implemented a $50,000 incentive program, in partnership with the City of San Jose, using Measure E funds for ADUs that maintain 100% Area Median Income (AMI) for 15 years. In addition the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) has approved SYMBiHOM as a preferred ADU provider statewide. Homeowners can apply for a $40,000 grant to build an ADU. The state is holding training and information sessions for homeowners, a majority in the Bay Area. Construction approvals in hand. Approvals in place include compliance with CA codes and from CA Housing and Community Development (HCD) for off-site fabrication and HCD inspection with the same approval available in 48 states. Construction permits received in Burlingame, CA and master permits secured in the City of San Jose CA and under review by the building department in the city of Fremont CA. Targeted marketing. Mailing lists targeting owners of rental homes in permitted cities are in hand with a broader audience being purchased and developed. We’re focusing on San Jose (~30,000 owners of single-family rentals) and Burlingame (~10,000 owners of single-family rentals) to start. Engagement. Created a video + newsletter campaign which is underway. A digital marketing firm has been engaged to further engage and expand our audience, focused on both demographics and need. A mailing list for 27,000 Santa Clara County Homeowners has been secured to which a newsletter brief with the Mayor of San José promotional video will be included Financial progress. Raised $460,000 pre-seed funds with $220, 000 in gross revenue to date. Scaling up. Plan to scale from 80 conversion kits sold in 2022 to 4,000 in 2026. Projections are based on distributions through contractors who will receive training and certification to install SYMBIHOM conversion kits in the San Francisco Bay region and expand to other regions per demand. It is worth noting that LA has approximately the same number of garages as the San Francisco Bay Area and that 30% of homeowners surveyed in our 2020 market survey indicated that an ADU was absolutely right for their home. Other opportunities being pursued included a potential partnership with EQUFI.com, who will provide cash to equity rich homeowners to build a SYMBIHOM ADU, in exchange for a share of the equity in their home; and working on a pilot program with the CEO of County of Santa Clara County [Steve Preminger] and the office of aging [Diana Miller]. Female founder. Last year, businesses solely led by women attracted just 2.3% of all capital raised by venture-backed firms in the U.S.
Our Story

SYMBIHOM LLC (the “Company”) is on a mission to increase workforce rental housing, homeowner’s income, facilitate aging in place and provide multi-generational living at low cost. Rebecca Moller was inspired with the idea of a scalable solution for one of the largest issues facing the nation - affordable workforce housing. She saw a critical need that could not be addressed through traditional means and decided to pivot her real estate career to address the workforce housing shortage, starting in the state of California. Specifically, her passion is to provide the ability by which working class families and essential workers have the opportunity to live in the communities they serve, as well as provide an added income to homeowners. SYMBiHOM is a scalable, geographically agile solution to provide moderately priced rental housing within already existing communities; an untraditional method to real estate development--a garage that has been converted into a modern upscale commercial class, yet affordable, living space.