About Us

“I have often been asked by my senior friends if they could build a second unit in their back yard, garage, within their carport, or as a small addition to their home in order to have a rental unit for additional income. There was always a fear of dealing with the City. Now, there’s a much easier way to achieve successful results with minimal hassle from the City – and I know just how to do it.”

- Elizabeth Pearson

‏‏‎ ‎ ‎ Founder and Homeowner Advocate

T
he company was founded by Elizabeth Pearson, who has had a passion for helping seniors for decades in Laguna Beach. Elizabeth served the City of Laguna Beach as a Planning Commissioner for 6½ Years and as a City Council member for 12 years. She served 3 terms as Mayor and is very familiar with the city’s planning and building department processes and also has many positive relationships with City Hall and the City leaders. She also has relationships with many architects and builders who have designed and built in Laguna Beach.

The company was founded by Elizabeth Pearson, who has had a passion for helping seniors for decades in Laguna Beach. Elizabeth served the City of Laguna Beach as a Planning Commissioner for 6½ Years and as a City Council member for 12 years. She served 3 terms as Mayor – and is very familiar with the city’s planning and building rules and regulations and has many relationships with City Hall and the leaders of Laguna Beach. She also has relationships with many architects and builders who have designed and built in Laguna Beach.

For 12 years, Elizabeth championed the creation of a new Senior Center in Laguna Beach, working tirelessly to move the project forward at City Hall. She garnered citywide support and raised much of the funds to help with the construction costs of the building. The Susi Q Senior Center officially opened in 2009.

Outside of her work at the City of Laguna Beach, Elizabeth has worked as a corporate executive in the real estate and financial services industries — and also as a key executive and consultant for non-profits. .

Today, Elizabeth works with the City, local architects, engineers and licensed contractors to help seniors and others to create ADUs on their properties to be used as rental units, caretaker units, mother-in-law units and more. She also continues to serve on Boards of Directors of non-profits, including Laguna Beach Live! and Laguna Plein Air Painters Association. She served numerous years on the Board of Directors of Laguna Beach Seniors.

THE ADVISORS

Karen Martin, State and City Regulations

Karen Martin is the Founder of Pacific Planning Group which, since 1986, has specialized in processing land entitlements and preparing professional pre-construction reports for commercial retail, residential and mixed use projects in California. She stays on top of all of California’s regulatory agencies, as well as the County and City regulatory bodies as it relates to residential housing codes. Karen is Laguna ADUs “go-to” expert when it comes to understanding the laws and codes related to ADUs.

Cody Engle, Financial and Operations

Cody Engle is as an attorney and real estate professional. As a founding
partner with Sam Zell and others of Equity Residential (NYS:EQR), he served as a senior executive where he was responsible for the acquisition, redevelopment (including re-construction), re-marketing and disposition of all manner of real estate and non-real estate properties. Having served as both a CEO and national manager of real estate, Cody brings a deep understanding of what it takes to operate a company, including managing both financial and operational aspects of housing projects.