250sqft detached adu???

[Tony Nuttall]

Does anybody on here have experience renting something this small out? It would be a 15 X 17 and it would have everything in it (kitchen, bed, shower, toilet, etc) The area I live in brings a ton of seasonal workers for petrochemical maintenance work at the big refineries up and down the ship channel. When this happens the hotel rates usually double and short term housing (30-90 days) becomes hard to find. I originally wanted to build a duplex on the lot I just purchased but the city won’t allow it so I’m stuck building a sfd but they will allow for an adu as long as it doesn’t exceed 25% of them the living sqft of the main house. 

[Dan H.]

Quote from @Tony Nuttall:

Does anybody on here have experience renting something this small out? It would be a 15 X 17 and it would have everything in it (kitchen, bed, shower, toilet, etc) The area I live in brings a ton of seasonal workers for petrochemical maintenance work at the big refineries up and down the ship channel. When this happens the hotel rates usually double and short term housing (30-90 days) becomes hard to find. I originally wanted to build a duplex on the lot I just purchased but the city won’t allow it so I’m stuck building a sfd but they will allow for an adu as long as it doesn’t exceed 25% of them the living sqft of the main house. 

 I am assuming the house is 1000’ and at 25% you are capped at 250’.

250’ is real small but can be done. 

I was wondering if you could add footage to the primary so that the ADU can be more than 250'.

Good luck

[Andrew Thomas Vedder]

Hi! I think a medium term rental is a great idea for your area but if you can only do 250 sq feet in an ADU perhaps renting rooms out in your single family resident is better. It would mean less privacy for you but it would save you time and money.

Just my two cents. 

[Victor G.]

Yes. I have a 200sf detached ADU (12x17) with its own separate yard. It comes with a Queen Murphy bed, toilet room w/sink, shower & kitchenette. It rents it both short term & medium term contracts. It's become very lucrative in my market. I'd say go for it! I did.

[Ryan Thomson]

@Tony Nuttall I have a single car garage conversion that is a studio kitchenette with one bathroom. Sounds similar. It is 225 sqft. I rent it for $1700/month on airbnb. 

[Axel Norvell]

I have 300sqft studios with a full kitchen, queen bed, full bath and full laundry. They do pretty well on AirBnB in the Houston area.

Location plays a big part, but if your listing is in a great area, is priced correctly and looks great it should rent just fine.

[K S.]

Can you guys compare your actual occupany of these crash pads to the average occupancy in your area and tell us if they are more or less? I believe AirDNA will show you the average for free. I'm deciding between 330/sq.ft units vs 500/sq.ft units. Big difference in cost and income but occupancy rate is the real unknown factor.

[Ryan Thomson]

Quote from @K S.:

Can you guys compare your actual occupany of these crash pads to the average occupancy in your area and tell us if they are more or less? I believe AirDNA will show you the average for free. I'm deciding between 330/sq.ft units vs 500/sq.ft units. Big difference in cost and income but occupancy rate is the real unknown factor.

Occupancy is taken into account in the income projections for STRs. For that reason I am les focused on the occupancy.