Real-estate feasibility intelligence · Central & Southern California

Any address. We tell you what it can become — before you make an offer.

Zillow shows what a property is. A broker shows what it's listed at. We show what it could be — the build, the split, the highest use, and whether it's worth it — decided by a person who's done it, not an algorithm.

Send an address and we'll tell you whether it's worth a closer look — within one business day. Snapshots are $49, delivered in 48 hours, and if we don't find a real opportunity, you don't pay.

No property in mind yet? See our off-market pipeline · See a real analysis

By Right Capital · Real Estate Intelligence
Zillow

tells you what it is.

A broker

tells you what it's listed at.

By Right Capital

tells you what it can become.

Where we work

From coastal neighborhoods to working ranch land.

Central and Southern California — where the new rules, the fire maps and the coastal zone change the answer parcel by parcel.

Coastal hillside neighborhood above the beach at golden hour
Neighborhood infill

Lots that can hold more

ADUs, SB 9 splits and SB 1123 small-lot subdivisions.

Rolling oak-studded ranch land beside a reservoir at sunset
Ranch & ag land

Acreage with a second life

Farmstays, ag worker housing, Williamson Act and ag enterprise rules.

Santa Barbara coastline with bluffs, beach and hillside homes
The coast

Where the fine print matters

Coastal zone, bluff setbacks and high-fire overlays on trophy parcels.

What changed since 2024

The rules changed. Most people missed it.

California has rewritten what a lot can hold. For many properties, the number of homes allowed has multiplied — and most owners, investors and even agents are still pricing land under the old rules.

10homes on one vacant lot
SB 1123 · effective July 1, 2025

Some vacant single-family lots of 1.5 acres or less can now be split into as many as 10 parcels with 10 homes — through a ministerial process, with no discretionary hearing and no CEQA review.

Lot must be vacant and substantially surrounded by urban uses; new parcels at least 1,200 sf; homes average 1,750 sf or less.
8backyard homes on an apartment property
SB 1211 · effective Jan 1, 2025

Existing multifamily properties can add up to 8 detached ADUs, up from 2 — capped at the number of existing units — plus conversions of unused space inside the building.

The sleeper detail: uncovered parking you build on generally no longer has to be replaced.
60days to approve a lot split
SB 450, amending SB 9 · effective Jan 1, 2025

SB 9 already allowed up to four homes where one stood. Now a complete application must be approved or denied within 60 days — or it's deemed approved, and denials must explain how to fix them.

Lot splits require an owner-occupancy affidavit; fire, historic and tenant limits can disqualify a lot.
2homes, two separate sales
AB 1033 · local opt-in

Cities and counties can now let an ADU be sold separately as a condo, in places including San Jose, San Diego and Santa Monica. The first one sold in San Jose in June 2026 for $530,000. The City of Santa Barbara hadn't opted in as of mid-2026 — one to watch.

If a jurisdiction opts in, owners with existing ADUs gain a new exit.
What one lot can become

One house today. Up to four homes under SB 9.

Split one single-family lot into two, and each new lot can hold up to two homes. With SB 450's 60-day clock, the city has to answer in two months.

Illustrative. Owner-occupancy, minimum lot sizes, fire, coastal and historic limits apply.

1 LOT · 1 HOME SB 9 2 LOTS · UP TO 4 HOMES
Existing home New homes allowed
The catch

Every one of these comes with conditions — lot size, location, fire zones, the coastal zone, owner occupancy. In Santa Barbara County each city writes its own rules, and unincorporated SB 9 splits apply only in urbanized areas. Two lots on the same street can get completely different answers. That's where most people get it wrong — and where the opportunity hides.

An idea most buyers miss

Buy the parking lot, not the building.

Most buyers underwrite an older apartment property on today's rents. Under SB 1211, an 8-unit property with an oversized surface lot may have room for up to 8 more homes — on land the buyer already owns, with no replacement parking required.

Construction cost, utility capacity and financing still decide whether it pencils. Illustrative, not advice.

What to look for
  1. Older 8-plus unit properties with more parking than tenants use
  2. Alley or secondary access for construction and utilities
  3. Sites outside the Coastal Zone and high-fire areas
  4. Sellers pricing only on existing income
Don't have a property in mind?

We already have a pipeline.

By Right Capital has assembled a private pipeline of off-market acquisition opportunities positioned to benefit from these new laws — lots, small multifamily and land that most buyers are still pricing under the old rules. Tell us what you're looking for, and we'll show you what fits.

Opportunities are shared privately with qualified buyers. All information is illustrative and should be verified independently.

Summary as of September 2026. Eligibility depends on the specific property and local rules — not legal advice.

Not an algorithm. Not a Zestimate. Every analysis is done and signed by our founder — and every deal is personally vetted through her years in this market.

We use technology to move fast on the busywork. But a human decides what's actually possible on a parcel, and a human decides which deals are worth your time.

We reject most of what we see.
How it works

Give us an address. Get back the whole picture.

No portal to learn, no jargon to decode — three steps, and most of the work is on us.

Step 01

Tell us the property

Enter an address or APN you're weighing. That's all it takes to start — no property yet? We'll bring one.

Step 02

We research & vet it by hand

Records, zoning, entitlements, comps and the numbers — pulled, read, and pressure-tested by a human, not a bot.

Step 03

You get the report — and the model

A plain-English analysis, the By Right Score, and a working financial model that's yours to keep and run your own way.

The By Right Analysis

One address. The full feasibility read — in plain English.

What used to take a planner, a zoning attorney, and six weeks. Here's a real one — a downtown-waterfront redevelopment lot in Santa Barbara (address and owner withheld) — scored 0–100 on how much a parcel is worth pursuing.

BY RIGHT ANALYSIS · ADDRESS WITHHELD
Land-Value Upside
76/ 100
By Right Score

Downtown-waterfront redevelopment lot

City of Santa Barbara · Coastal Zone · R-4 Hotel-Motel-Multiple Residence · ~7,800 sf
On the lot today
Older 2-unit building
By-right move
Keep it + add up to 3 ADUs · 2 → 5 homes
Bigger play
Rebuild ~4–9 homes (density rules + State Density Bonus)
Land value
~ $1.7M – $2.2M
The read: The building is small and old; the zoning is not. This lot sits in one of the few zones that allows hotels as well as multi-unit housing, blocks from the beach. The fastest win is adding ADUs with no demolition; the bigger play is a coastal-permitted rebuild. Ground-up construction doesn't pencil at today's costs, so price it as land. Worth pursuing.
Sample Snapshot

See the whole thing — exactly what you receive.

A real two-page By Right Snapshot on a downtown-waterfront redevelopment lot in Santa Barbara (address and owner withheld): what can be built and under which rule, the rough numbers, the red flags, and what to check next.

Open the full sample (PDF)
Sample By Right Snapshot, page 1: downtown-waterfront redevelopment lot, what you can build Sample By Right Snapshot, page 2: the numbers, red flags and what to check next
SAMPLE · ADDRESS & OWNER WITHHELD · FIGURES ARE ILLUSTRATIVE · CLICK A PAGE TO OPEN THE PDF

Not the answer you were hoping for?

If your By Right Analysis shows a property can't do what you need, the search doesn't have to end there. Tell us what you're looking for, and we'll start scouting properties that fit.

Start my search
What's in the Analysis

Everything we find — not a one-page summary.

You're paying for depth, so we give you all of it: the answer, the evidence behind it, and the tools to keep going on your own.

  • 01
    Zoning & entitlements, decoded for your exact parcelWhat you can and can't build — and which of it is by right, with no hearing.
  • 02
    Highest & best use + every value-add playADU, lot split, density bonus, adaptive reuse — each one we find, with rough yield.
  • 03
    Comparable sales & rentsWhat the finished scenarios actually sell and rent for nearby.
  • 04
    A working financial modelThe pro-forma spreadsheet — yours to keep, change, and run at your own discretion.
  • 05
    Risk & red-flag reviewWilliamson Act, coastal, easements, liens, tax traps — the reasons a "deal" isn't one.
  • 06
    Sources, records & the By Right ScoreThe documents we relied on, plus one 0–100 score with the reasoning behind it.
What we decode

The rules most owners never get told they can use.

California quietly rewrote what you can build. We read the code for your exact parcel and tell you which doors are open — by right.

01Add homes to what you own

The fastest equity is often already on your lot — a second unit, a split, a duplex.

ADU / JADUSB 9 lot splitAB 1033 condo-izeSB 684

02Build bigger than zoning says

State law overrides local limits in ways cities rarely advertise. We find the bonus.

Density BonusSB 423AB 2011 / SB 6

03Change what a building is

Offices, motels and odd lots can legally become housing — and pencil out.

Adaptive reuseOffice-to-resiHighest & best use

04Know the catch before you buy

Williamson Act, coastal zones, easements, tax traps — the reasons a "deal" isn't one.

Williamson ActCoastal / TDRTax & liens
The scored deal feed

A short list of off-market opportunities — hand-vetted, and scored for upside.

Not a firehose of listings. A sample from our private pipeline of off-market and distressed parcels, each scored for what it can become under the new rules — not just what it is. Owners redacted until you're a member.

Montecito 9310882

Estate lot, canyon edge

Trophy parcel with a legal second dwelling by right. Owner not listed.

Off-market · equity play
Carpinteria 9301374

Notice of sale, 6/26

Distressed timeline, real ownership confirmed by title before contact.

Pre-foreclosure · time-sensitive
Santa Barbara 9310169

Corner lot, downtown

Density-bonus math works. Bigger than the zoning map suggests.

Off-market · development
Get pipeline access → No property in mind? Tell us your buy box and we'll match you to what's in the pipeline.
Pricing

Three ways in. Simple prices.

Start with a $49 Snapshot. If you want to go deeper, what you've already paid counts toward the next step.

Start here
The Snapshot
$49/ property
A two-page read on any address, delivered in 48 hours.
  • What you can build by right
  • The best value-add play on the property
  • Red flags to know before you make an offer
  • If we don't find a real opportunity, you don't pay
Get my Snapshot
For serious buyers
The Full Analysis
$495/ property
Everything, plus a call with our founder and the full numbers.
  • Everything in the Snapshot
  • Highest & best use + every value-add play
  • Comps, underwriting, and one By Right Score
  • A working financial model, yours to keep
  • A 30-minute call to walk through it
  • Your $49 Snapshot counts toward it
Get the Full Analysis
For investors
Membership
$99/ month
We watch the laws, the public hearings and the market so you don't have to. Founding memberships are open now.
  • Alerts when a rule change could affect properties like yours
  • A monthly breakdown of new laws and out-of-the-box strategies
  • A first look at the opportunities we're tracking
  • One Snapshot a month, plus priority access to our analysis
  • Cancel anytime
Become a member

Not ready yet? Start free with the By Right Brief, one scored deal a week. Information & analysis and self-serve documents; not brokerage, legal, or investment advice.

Deal services

From finding the owner to structuring the deal.

When the analysis says go, we help you take the next step: find the right person, present the opportunity well, and structure the deal so it works for everyone at the table. Deal structuring is our specialty.

Who owns it?
Owner Research
$149/ property
Find out who really owns a property and the best way to reach them.
  • The owner of record, including the people behind an LLC or trust
  • Mailing address and best contact route, from public sources
  • Ownership history, plus loans and liens of record that hint at motivation
  • A ready-to-send owner letter you sign and mail yourself
Order Owner Research
Present it well
Property Presentation
$750/ property
A polished, branded presentation of a property and its potential, for a client, a buyer or your own decision.
  • A comparative market analysis with a supported value range
  • What can be built, and the highest and best use
  • Comps and key numbers in a clean, easy-to-read deck
  • Ready to share with clients, partners or lenders
Request a presentation
Raise the equity
Partner Presentation + Model
$2,500/ deal
Everything you need to bring in an equity partner, JV partner, GP or capital partner.
  • An investor-ready presentation of the deal and the opportunity
  • A full financial model: sources and uses, returns and sensitivity
  • Two to three deal structures compared side by side
  • A call to walk through the model and the finer details
Start a partner package
Our specialty
Deal Structuring
Custom/ starts with a call
We design and compare the structures that get complex deals done, and show you the trade-offs of each.
  • GP/LP and JV splits, preferred returns, promotes and waterfalls
  • Landowner partnerships, where land is contributed for equity
  • Ground leases, options and seller financing
  • The capital stack: senior debt, preferred equity and mezzanine
Book a structuring call
Structures we present
Joint venture (GP/LP)Preferred return + promoteDistribution waterfallsLandowner contribution JVGround leaseOption & entitleSeller financing / carrybackPreferred equityMezzanine debtMaster lease with option

Presentations, models and research are prepared for our clients to use. We don't market properties, solicit buyers or investors, or take a fee at closing. Value ranges are market analyses, not appraisals. Structure options are for discussion with your attorney and CPA, and are not legal, tax, securities or investment advice.

By Right Capital · Real Estate Intelligence
Who's behind it

Every read carries a name.

By Right Capital was founded by Andi Hollingshead. The whole point is that a real person — with years of experience in this market — oversees the work and stands behind every analysis and every deal that reaches you. Software handles the busywork; judgment is human, and it's hers.

— Andi Hollingshead

Founder, By Right Capital

Start with an address

Find out what your property can become.

Enter the address or APN and we'll show you the doors that are open. No property yet? Ask about our pipeline.

Snapshots are $49 · if we don't find a real opportunity, you don't pay. Or read the By Right Brief, free.