I used to live in the former garage of a soft story building (they built a kitchen/bathroom/etc - it was around 1,000 square feet). It was a great deal because

I used to live in the former garage of a soft story building (they built a kitchen/bathroom/etc - it was around 1,000 square feet). It was a great deal because we got sole access to the backyard (it was a house). But after reading about how they relaxed building standards after '06 rather than increased them, I couldn't wait to get out - the house was built in 1918. The landlady would always talk about how the house held up great during the '89 earthquake. But that didn't impress me considering the epicenter was in Santa Cruz.