Lookup One: Coastal or Not
The City's mapping shows the Coastal Zone boundary. Distance from the water is not a reliable guide, because the boundary runs inland by varying amounts depending on the area.
Inside it, a rebuild either fits the disaster replacement exemption or becomes a coastal development application, and the difference between those is months. Outside it, neither question arises and the file is an ordinary permit matter.
Why Should I Look This up Myself?
Lookup Two: The Permit History
If the parcel is coastal, this one matters more than anything else on the file.
The disaster replacement exemption applies to a legally existing structure. A house built without a coastal permit at the time does not qualify, and the route becomes a first-time coastal permit. On San Diego's older beach housing, much of which predates the Coastal Act, this is a live question with a real answer.
Development Services holds records for the address, and the Coastal Commission holds its own files. The statutory position is on our page covering the Coastal Zone and what the lot supports.
Then: What the Lot Carries
The permitted unit count in a single dwelling unit zone is set by lot area, excluding environmentally sensitive lands, and the floor area ratio uses the same exclusion. Whether the parcel sits in a Sustainable Development Area changes the bonus ADU allowance.
On a parcel with real capacity, the land can be worth more than a restored house, and that turns a repair file into a development file with a different set of buyers.
What If the Capacity Number Beats the Restoration Number?
What We Do Next
The records. The county assessor for ownership, year built and lot dimensions, the recorder for the deed and any lien, and Development Services for the permit history and any prior coastal approvals.
The structure. What survived, and whether the era means framing repairs in sections or comes out whole. On a coastal parcel this also decides whether the work counts as repair or as a replacement structure, since replacing fifty percent or more of a residence is treated as the latter.
The measurements. On a coastal parcel we establish what the ten percent limit actually allows, measured against the destroyed structure's floor area, height and bulk rather than against the neighbours.
What Comes Back
A written figure with every line showing: what a finished house on that parcel is worth, or what the parcel is worth on its capacity where that is higher, the cost of getting there by whichever regulatory route applies, carrying cost, the documentary transfer tax, and margin.
What If the Numbers Say Do Something Else?
Then It Is Your Call
No deadline from us. California closes through escrow rather than attorneys on both sides, so a clean file moves quickly. What slows a San Diego file is a coastal question nobody asked, a permit history nobody pulled, and title.
Compare figures if you want to. The questions on our page about how to tell local cash buyers apart work on us as much as on anyone.
Things That Never Happen
No fee at any stage. No request that you clear the site, board it, commission a survey or make any repair first — on a coastal parcel clearing before the permit position is established can actively harm your position, and we will say so rather than encourage it. No requirement that your claim be settled. No assignment of the contract to a third party.
Common Questions About the Process
How Long Does It Take?
Address to written figure is usually a few days. Escrow to closing is quick where title is clean. What varies is what a buyer has to do afterwards, and on a coastal parcel that depends on their plan rather than on you.
Do I Need to Be in California?
No. Out-of-state and overseas owners are common here and remote signing through escrow is routine.
I Have Not Done Either Lookup.
Then send the address and we will do both and tell you what they say. They are public records and there is no advantage to us in you not having them.