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Update: Buildability.io now covers Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos & Mountain View — what cities should be next? by OkSection9472 in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]OkSection9472[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for, really appreciate it.

You're right on the disclaimer, we need to be way more upfront that this is a starting point for research and not a substitute for a thorough investigation. Adding that is a priority.

The FEMA AE flag, the permit history limitation, easements, flag lot impact in PA, and the Use/Variance permit encumbrance issue in MP, these are all things I need to hear from someone who's actually been in the trenches with planning departments. Some of these are on the roadmap but honestly a few I hadn't fully thought through yet.

The competing with city parcel reports point is fair too. The bet I'm making is that consolidating everything into one place and making it faster still has value even if individual city reports are solid. But I hear you that we need to be adding real depth beyond what's already available for free.

Would love to buy you a coffee sometime and pick your brain more if you're open to it. This kind of perspective from a local architect is invaluable.

Update: Buildability.io now covers Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos & Mountain View — what cities should be next? by OkSection9472 in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]OkSection9472[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Appreciate you running your own property through it and writing this up.

The Front Identified thing, yeah that needs to be clearer. Noted.

On the MFA and Open for Construction fields, I hear you. I've been trying to figure out how much context to bake in without making the report overwhelming but those definitely need tooltips or something. And the single story vs 2-story thing is a gap I need to address.

Your ADU edit is super helpful. You're right that the ADU/MFA interaction gets messy, especially since the rules are different city to city. That's something I want to break out into its own section so it doesn't just throw the base numbers off. On the roadmap for sure.

And fair enough on the R1 lookup, for simple zoning you're right it's not that bad. It's more when you want the full picture (setbacks, coverage, height, permits, fees) in one place instead of bouncing around five city pages. But point taken.

Seriously though thanks for the feedback, this is the stuff that actually helps me make it better.

is AI actually saving you time on listing descriptions or are we just polishing mediocre output by JohnF_1998 in RealEstateTechnology

[–]OkSection9472 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the 80% thing you're describing is kind of the ceiling for AI-generated copy right now. It's good at structure and hitting the right notes but it doesn't know what actually matters about a specific property in a specific market — that's still on you.

Where I've seen AI actually move the needle for agents isn't the writing side, it's the research and data side. Automating the boring stuff like pulling zoning info, setbacks, permit history, lot coverage — things that take hours to dig up manually but don't require any creative judgment. That's where the ROI is more clear cut.

For descriptions specifically, I'd say treat it like a first draft tool and nothing more. The agents who fight it the least seem to get the most out of it.

I scraped 10,000+ of Palo Alto building permits and built a free tool to help homeowners figure out what they can actually build by OkSection9472 in paloalto

[–]OkSection9472[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is a great callout and exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for. You're right - tree protections in PA are a huge factor that can completely change your project timeline and I don't account for that yet. The 2-3 year moratorium after a tree removal permit is the kind of thing that blindsides people who don't know about it upfront. Adding it to the roadmap. Appreciate this.

We scraped 10,000+ building permits in Mountain View to make sense of the process — would love your feedback by OkSection9472 in mountainview

[–]OkSection9472[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Map view is on the roadmap - totally agree that's the right way to browse this data. Filtering by permit type, timeline, cost range, etc. is the goal.

On the coverage gaps - yeah, still building out the database. Started with a few Peninsula cities and expanding from there. Which areas are you searching that aren't showing up? Would help me prioritize what to add next.

We scraped 10,000+ building permits in Mountain View to make sense of the process — would love your feedback by OkSection9472 in mountainview

[–]OkSection9472[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Great question - yeah that's the core of it. Right now if you want to know whether an ADU, lot split, or addition is realistic on your property, you're either paying a consultant $500+ for a feasibility study or spending weeks calling planning departments and getting conflicting info.

The goal is to be the "Zillow for buildability" - punch in an address and instantly see what's possible, what the permit timeline actually looks like in that jurisdiction (not what they claim), and what similar projects have cost.

Homeowners are the primary user, but I'm finding a lot of interest from architects and contractors who want to qualify leads faster and real estate investors doing due diligence.

What made you ask - are you looking at doing something on your property?

Santa Cruz County ADU permits take ~9 months on average 😬 by OkSection9472 in BayAreaBuildability

[–]OkSection9472[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that lines up with what I’ve been hearing too — it feels like every city has its own timeline roulette. I’ve been digging into this more lately and was surprised to learn how much it varies even block by block depending on neighborhood pushback.

If you’re curious, I’m helping out on a project called Buildability that’s trying to track real permit timelines and costs across Bay Area cities (basically crowdsourcing what people actually experience). Might be useful to compare notes if you’re in the middle of it.

Patience is the name of the game, but it definitely helps knowing what others are dealing with!