All Forum Posts by: David Maldonado

Hey everyone,

So from my understanding of how a detached ADU is appraised, is by comparing similar properties with detached ADUs that have recently sold in the area, but there aren't much homes with detached ADUs to use for comps since this is still fairly new.

On the other hand, would an attached ADU be appraised differently? I bought my home in late 2018 for 360k and then converted my garage into a 488 sq ft ADU. I recently got an appraisal letter from the county appraiser and my property is now valued at 418k. Not bad, considering I spent 35k to convert it. I got in touch with the building inspector and she sent me info on how the city views ADUs. Attached ADUs are considered "additions" thus add square footage to the main house, but detached ADUs do not.

Would an Appraisal done for refinance purposes count an attached ADU square footage together with the main house?

Just coming up with Ideas on how to pull out everything I put in on an ADU to keep on repeating the process since there is not much financing options for funding ADUs besides using HELOCS or Personal loans.

Hey everyone,

Can lenders cancel out personal loan payments from a loan that was used to build an ADU when applying for another owner occupied loan? Would a lease and proof of deposit be enough to not get that perosnal loan payment counted towards my debt to income ratio?

Hey everyone,

I am thinking about using a HELOC soon to build an ADU my property. My bank offers up to 100% LTV for a primary residence. My one year occupancy is coming up and would like to know if having a balance on a HELOC or even just initiating one would affect me when I try to buy my next Owner occupied home? I would like to use the HELOC as a "Mortgage" for the ADU and just have the unit pay the loan over time while cash flowing.

What's up BP,

After seeing that the majority of tenants do not have reserves for situations like the Covid-19 pandemic, I was thinking about offering an emergency rent savings plan for future tenants. This would be voluntary and would be part of the lease if the tenants decide to choose this option. An example would be charging an extra $100 on top of the rent and could only be used for emergency situations like losing their source of income. If they decide to move out at the end of their lease, then their money would be refunded.

Is this legal in California?

Sounds like a good idea for the future after this pandemic is over as it would ensure the tenants having reserves just like it is expected for landlords.

What do you guys think?

 This came from my architect. He said one of his plans for 2 units for one of his clients were rejected by the city. He told me to show the city the preliminary plans to see if there would be any issues before we move on. I'm going to find out myself on Thursday when I go directly to the city because I already got confirmation from the building inspector that inspected my jadu about being able to add a 2nd unit (adu).

Hey guys so my architect was in the process of drawing me up plans for my 2nd unit for house and he already experienced some push-back from the city for one of his other clients. So from my knowledge, we are allowed to have a jadu (500 sqft or less within an existing space) and an adu (detached or sharing a wall with the house above 500 sqft no more than 1200 sqft). So I already have a jadu (garage conversion to studio) and I want to build an adu about 600 sqft AND will be sharing a wall with the house in order to avoid solar. My city's building inspector sent me an email clarifying the solar requirements and in there it states that an adu is considered an "addition". According to my architect, apparently the city is saying that a jadu is not considered an "addition" which still shouldn't be a problem in accordance with the new bill. Can anyone tell me what I'm missing? I'm going to drop by the building department on Thursday and show them my preliminary plans for approval before I move forward but I want to know if anyone here would know why it possibly wouldn't be allowed?

 Yeah someone brought that up as well. My question is what if someone who met their 1 year occupancy for on their home wants to move into another owner occupied home but they have a jadu and an adu?

According to my city's inspectors: solar is only required if its a detached ADU separate from the house so for your scenario yes you be required to add solar. But if you build an attached adu (shares a wall with the main house) you do no need solar. It will also be considered an addition.

 It might be more convenient and will ease the utitlity cost between the units but I heard it can cost up to 10k for separate meters. I would just take over utilities, find a way to add a submeter to the adus, calculate power usage and then bill the adu tenants accordingly. You can just add the gas and water bill on top of the rent.