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Casa Fresco › What we buy

What we buy, and what we don’t.

We buy houses, buildable lots, small apartment buildings and older commercial and industrial buildings in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Fresno counties.

On the Central Coast the hard part is permits, water and coastal review. In Fresno County it is the purchase price and the cost of the work.

Tell us about a property Where we work
Illustrative lot plan A deep residential lot, 50 feet wide and 150 feet deep. The existing house sits at the street with a driveway along one side. A detached second unit, drawn in terracotta, sits at the rear of the lot inside the dashed setback lines. North is up. 50 ft 150 ft Second unit detached, at the rear Setback lines Property line Existing house at the street Driveway STREET N 0 25 50 ft
Illustrative lot plan. No particular parcel is shown. A deep residential lot with the existing house at the street and a detached second unit at the rear.

Four kinds of property

The same two tests apply to all of them. The numbers have to work: what the finished property will sell or rent for has to justify the purchase price and the full cost of the work, and leave us a profit. And the project has to be something the city or county will permit.

PropertyThe projectWhat we look for
Houses and residential lots A legal second unit (an ADU) where the lot has room for one: a detached unit at the rear, a garage conversion or an addition. Where the house needs work, a renovation too.

A lot deep or wide enough for a second unit, with a way to reach the rear and sewer and water that can serve it.

In Fresno County we also look at older houses that need renovating. Our review of county records of investor resales there, for the 24 months to September 2026, found most of the purchases between $150,000 and $350,000. That is county data, not Casa Fresco projects.
Small apartment buildings The units are renovated, and more are added where the lot and the zoning allow. We also improve how the building is run. From a duplex up, where the building needs renovation, sits on an oversized lot or is run below what it could be.
Buildable lots We take the lot through permits, and new homes are built on it, in towns that are short on housing. Infill lots and other buildable parcels with a clear path through zoning, utilities and water. A cheap lot is usually cheap for a reason, so we check all three, and coastal review where it applies, before we talk price.
Commercial and industrial buildings A renovation and new leases: new tenants, a new layout or a change of use where that raises the income. Older retail, office, warehouse, flex and mixed-use buildings priced below what they would cost to build new.

If you would rather keep a share of the project than sell, we can come in as co-owner instead. See how partnering works.

Finding replacement property for a 1031 exchange is brokerage work, done by Sam Fox Brennan personally as a California real estate broker, DRE #02178674. See how the 1031 search works. Casa Fresco does not provide tax or legal advice.

Who checks each one

Sam Fox Brennan checks the price: recent sales, the rents in place, zoning and water. Eduardo Cota prices the work, and runs estimating, budgets and field execution on Casa Fresco projects.

Modern Perspective Plumbing, the company he co-founded, does the plumbing. It is a licensed California plumbing contractor (Cota Companies LLC, CSLB Lic. #1102487, C-36). The other trades are licensed contractors, hired and managed by Casa Fresco as the owner, and only on property it owns or co-owns. Casa Fresco is not a contractor for hire.

How our projects get built

About the two of us

If we make you an offer

Casa Fresco is the buyer. It buys for its own account, as a principal, and intends to make a profit on the property. Nobody at Casa Fresco is your agent. One of us, Sam Fox Brennan, is a licensed California real estate broker (DRE #02178674).

An offer from us is not an opinion of market value. You may get more by listing the property, and we encourage you to get independent advice before you answer.

How a direct sale works

What we don’t buy

Three things rule a property out.

  • Projects that depend on an approval nobody can count on. If a project only works with a variance or a rezoning that the city or county has never granted, we pass.
  • Property priced on projected income. Rents that don’t exist yet, operating expenses that leave out insurance and management, and a cap rate borrowed from a different market. We price a building on the rents it collects now and on what it costs to run.
  • Property outside our three counties. We keep to San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Fresno counties, where one of us can get to the property.

Send us the address. If the numbers work we will tell you; if they don’t, we will tell you that too.

We read every message and respond personally, usually within two business days.

Tell us about a property