A quarter million or more? You could probably get by with less if you went for a prefab, and some of the prefabs look quite good to me.
I know an architect…
It’s a whole lot cheaper than buying a second house!
In my neighborhood in IL, many properties have “carriage houses” over their garages. Our property is large enough for us to build a decent sized 1 bedroom apartment. We’re considering it as extra income as the rental market is strong because we are so close to a university. Down the road, it could work as a caregiver suite.
I wonder what the rules are for AirBnB’ing your new ADU?
My reading is that cities can require any rental to be 30 days or longer, but that might be for the old ADU law and not the new one, so don’t quote me.
@“Cardinal Fang” That was a good web site, looks like existing structures are only taxed on the improvement value. The site also mentioned setting up the rented ADU as an LLP. This reminded me of a headline I saw this morning on new tax cuts for small business owners, including landlords.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-landlords-a-new-tax-break-comes-with-strings-attached-11571391001
Wow. Four-foot side and rear setbacks that allow a 1200 sq. ft. dwelling. That would mean someone with a large lot could construct a second home that is farther way from their house than from the neighbor’s lot line. How is that fair to the neighbors? Basically, taking away local zoning rights. Wonder if this will end up in court.
This may be a real boon for @coralbrook!
The new laws don’t allow a separate 1200 square foot dwelling. They allow a separate 800 square foot dwelling.
Anything can be taken to court, I suppose, but on what basis would these laws be challenged?
Our state also has ADUs available as an option but it hasn’t helped reduce housing prices or increased housing inventory either.
Yeah to extend my house 1000 sq feet would be well over $300k now, so $100K for prefab sounds about right. I remember reading about these drop-in prefabs about 5 years ago for $80K.
How available are ADUs in Hawaii, @HImom? California previously allowed ADUs, and there was a big liberalization a couple of years ago, but this new law allows an ADU for almost all single family houses, with minimum fuss in approval. There are something like 11 million single family houses here, and at a guess we’ve gone from 2 million of them allowing an ADU to 10 million of them allowing an ADU. Whatever the number, it’s a big change.
For example, previously I wouldn’t have been able to build an ADU and now I can; other Californians in this thread wouldn’t have been able to build an ADU and now they can. @Techno13 wrote that most California backyards aren’t big enough for an ADU: well, now they are.
I’m curious about how much of a difference this will make. How many people will take advantage of these new liberalized rules? That’s why I started this thread.
BIL lives in a beach town in Southern California. He bought a cottage that had a pre-existing 2 story ADU that is attached to his one car detached garage at the side/back of his small yard. I only saw it after he did some renovations, but it is beautiful. It has two bathrooms w/showers, small galley kitchen, large living dining area and, upstairs a bedroom. The way it sits, it is easily accessible and private from the cottage. For a while, he was renting it on AirB&B and was making enough income that it covered his (very expensive) mortgage. When we visited, we stayed in it. It was so comfortable and beachy.
In fact, I live in a beach community on the east coast. Many of the old cottages in my neighborhood have them. We built a new house when we moved to the community, but due to current setbacks, they are no longer allowed, only those that are pre-existing. I’m envious of my neighbors who have them. I would only want one if it was designed to look appropriate to the house/yard and if guests could enter/stay without affecting the privacy of the main house.
I would!
Since the new law over-rules local zoning codes, I would guess that a city could claim that the State is illegally pre-empting their job.
California rental laws can be rather draconian for the individual renting out the property. They are beyond draconian in certain cities and municipalities. Once a tenant is in it can be close to impossible to get them out. I’d be very, very, VERY careful about renting an ADU to anyone outside of family or well trusted friends.
Well but on what basis would the pre-emption be illegal? The state already controls a lot of rules about what can be build where.
I suppose cities and towns could sue the state for financial (costs to cities for additional review of these new “jobs”), transportation and/or the biggee “environmental impacts.” Obviously, no Federal laws could be broken, say like the Endangered Species Act maybe? I dunno. Just guessing out loud.
I doubt this new law will do much to ease the housing shortage. I’m not picturing many homeowners doing it in my neighborhood of 7,000-8,000-sq-ft lots with attached garages. It’s a big investment to add an ADU, and if someone is short on cash and needs to monetize their house, there are easier ways to do that – e.g. AirB’n’B or take in roommates. I’ve seen both scenarios multiple times in this neighborhood.
We are starting to see our neighborhood become less densely populated (slightly), as more houses become full-time AirB’n’Bs. The house next to us was sold in a divorce and purchased by an investment group from a foreign country (so we were told), a country with a nondemocratic government and unstable currency. It got rented out via AirBnB fairly regularly over the summer, but has been empty now for weeks and I’m not expecting it to get much rental action over the winter. Ditto the house that’s in front of our other next door neighbor (though that one is just owned the former resident). For reference, we’re about a mile and a half from the beach as the crow flies; not in a touristy, beachside neighborhood. Anyway, back to the original topic, I do worry any ADUs would just become short term rentals.
I’m pretty sure cities would still be able to deny projects based on environmental issues, if they have certain environmental rules already on the books for new construction. For example they might be able to deny a proposed ADU on a steep slope, if they forbid building on steep slopes. But they can’t deny on floor area ratio, or lot coverage, or “we think the project is ugly.”
A friend of mine thought she’d make extra income buying and renting out a condo unit. She rented the unit to someone she thought was a reliable ‘friend’. But this friend knew how to use the landlord-tenant laws to basically defraud my friend. He didn’t pay rent. He made bogus mold claims for which he sued her. She had to take him to court. He used every delaying tactic.
Long story short, she never got any rent from him and was out her attorney’s fees.
She sold the condo.
So no. I’d never want the hassle of an ADU.
The construction mess would tear up my drive, my sideyard, and my backyard to run power, gas and sewer. There would be issues with homeowner’s insurance and financing, property taxes etc. There would be a long term payback and questionable effects on property values. Most importantly, there would be a severe loss of privacy.