Welcome to B.U.R.N.
Real Estate Investing & Networking
- San Francisco Bay -
The most No-Bullshit
REI Network around!
Powered by
J Thomas Martin
650-338-8487
J@burnREI.com
About
B.uild
U.p
R.ight
N.ow
We're not just building up a real estate investing community.
We're not just building each other up with knowledge and connections.
We are literally building from the ground up: partnering with property owners, developers, and builders to help solve the housing crisis in California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Silicon Valley, with new residential construction.
So how do we build community?
By bringing everyone together!
Our monthly REI meetups are hosted on-site at real estate projects, at interesting bars & restaurants in Silicon Valley and the East Bay, and at venues where we occasionally have speakers and presentations. But we're really ALL ABOUT NETWORKING.
Join our meetup group to network with other investors with the BURN, drive, and knowledge to grow together, and join our next event below!â
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They say your network is your net worth. And it's not just some cliche bullshit! Meeting the right investors has changed my investing trajectory, and I wouldn't have been able to travel the world and be so successful without the business and real esate advice of investors (and new friends) I've met along the way. Come out and do the same!
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âOn that note, we're also bringing back the SF Bay REI Networking Summit on Feb 21 & 22, 2026 in Silicon Valley! 2 full days & 2 stages of education, networking, and growth. Get an entire year's worth of networking in one weekend!
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âScroll below to follow real estate investing & development tips on my instagram, along with my full bio and RE development research for building more ADU's, Junior ADU's, lot splits, and small lot subdivisions, especially in Silicon Valley. If you are a developer or property owner, please contact me any time at the form below to see how we can add value to each other.
More About Me:
J Thomas Martin
What do a felon, a globetrotting multilingual traveler, and a passionate real estate investor have in common?
* Well it's not a joke! That's me!
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After spending a few months in jail at 19 years old for selling cocaine on the Central Coast of California, I got a job washing car windows at a 76 gas station... where one driver gave me a better tip than any crumpled $1 or $5 bill I'd ever received for scraping countless bug guts off the windshields of nicer cars than I'd ever thought I'd be able to own. He told me... no matter what they take from you, they can't take what you learn up here, tapping his head.
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Among other inspiration and support from family and friends, I eventually went back to community college, transferred to San Francisco State University, and graduated with a Bachelor's in Finance and a minor in Economics. I was on my way! I was working at a nonprofit in San Francisco while finishing my degree... just as what we would later come to know as the Great Financial Crisis was forming.
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âAs real estate, banking, and the financial industry crumbled, I ended up working in Bank Regulation for the State of CA, at probably one of the most interesting times in history. We reviewed real estate loans and other risks, had banks set aside extra provisions for the risks of the collapsing system, and even shut banks down and sold them off to other banks on some Fridays.
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Working in this whirlwind environment as the economy was collapsing caused a coworker to nudge me towards looking at the falling real estate market as an investor. And after I was introduced to BiggerPockets.com where other real estate investors were networking and picking up the pieces, I was hooked!
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I bought my first 4plex in Richmond, CA with an FHA loan, before buying another several other single family homes and small multifamily in the SF Bay in 50/50 holdings with partners. And WOW, I borrowed a lot to get there back then! In the meantime, I grew an Airbnb arbitrage business, hired a team of virtual assistants in the Philippines that are mostly still with me, started a real estate meetup, then a real estate conference... and eventually quite my job to invest in real estate full time!
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But it wasn't long before I decided I wanted to stop being a digital nomad, and just travel without having to work, instead ;) So I shifted the business burden to my VA team, and took a 6+ year haitus from active real estate... while I traveled the world and invested as a limited partner in many multifamily, mobile home park, and self-storage syndications - selling my San Francisco Bay Area properties at large gains after Covid, in the process.ââ
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And I had NO IDEA how high interest rates would go, just as very high rent growth slowed signicantly and expenses increased with inflation. It was the perfect storm, and what a kick in the ass! My greedy ROI assumptions caught up to me, and we'll see how big of a hit those investments take over time.
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As all that unfolds... I'm here to make a positive impact and add value! When I'm not traveling or taking motorcycle treks, I'm bringing together real estate investors at events, helping guide the next generation at Youth Champions, and on a mission to build more housing! My team and I have been pounding the phones of vacant lot owners in Silicon Valley to uncover land that is ready to be built on - through sale, a joint venture, entitlement, or listing, as desired by the owner. Hop below to check out how a plethora of State Laws targeted towards allowing more housing is changing the landscape of what's possible to develop in California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Silicon Valley.
Odds are that between SB-9, SB-1123, SB-1211... lot splits, small lot subdivisions, ADU's, Junior ADU's... you can add value to one of your Silicon Valley properties by at least getting started on the permitting process. And there are more opportunities each year with new legislation pushing to solve the housing crisis. Let's dig in to the details below!
Residential Development
Silicon Valley
SB-9: Small Lot Split
Most urban infill lots are eligible for a lot split, with a resulting lot size of as little as 1,250 sq. ft. per lot! There are various caveats associated and exemptions for each of these laws, so be sure to read the full text of the law to understand exactly what it says!
SB-684 &1123: Small Lot Subdivision (10 lots)
SB-684 allowed the subdivision of a multifamily-zoned lot into 10 small lots as small as 600 sq. ft. per resulting lot. SB-1123 extended this subdivision ability for single-family-zoned lots, but with minimum resulting lot sizes of 1,200 sq. ft. instead of 600 sq ft, and maximum pre-subdivision lot sizes of 5 acres for MF zoning, and 1.5 acres for SFH zoning - along with other caveats.
ADUs & JADUs
The vast majority of single-family-zoned lots in California are eligible for up to 3 housing units, subject to certain restrictions, with each primary residence eligible for an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and a junior accessory dwelling unit (JADU) on the same lot. The ADU can be detached or attached, and can be construction of completely new square footage. A JADU must be converted from existing residential space in the primary residence (basically converting part of the main house into a small separate unit). Once again there are caveats.
However, the ADU and JADU laws can be combined with other laws, such as SB-9, to subdivide an existing single family home lot into two lots, with each resulting lot containing a primary dwelling, ADU, and JADU. This results in a total of 6 residential units on what was formerly a single-family zoned lot.
