Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
Anyone else notice how California keeps getting more crowded and more expensive? It is just too beautiful to leave so ADUs are great ways for adding much needed space here. They can be known as in-law suites, secondary units, guest house and more. These are more affordable for California residents because they don’t require purchasing more land or structured parking. Adding a living space above your garage, a basement apartment, or a tiny home in the backyard are great ways to add extra living space to your home. They also have the opportunity for homeowners to make a profit by adding space. Legally adding these spaces onto your home makes it the same property as the main house. They can not be bought or sold separately. The placement of the ADU may be based on criteria such as adequacy of water and sewer services and the impact of traffic flow and public safety. Some of the restrictions that may come up are parking, height, setback, lot coverage, landscape, and maximum size of that unit. Also if any of the homes are listed in the California Register of Historic Places that can change what you are allowed to do when it comes to adding and ADU.
How to make a profit with your ADU
Did you know the average rent in Orange County is currently $2,500 a month? What would having that amount of money extra in your pocket do for your budget? New law changes as of January 1st, 2018 allowed for home owners to turn their single family residence into a duplex or multi family home in order to rent out one half to make a profit and provide more housing for California residents. The unit can only be rented, and not sold. This is such a great way for homeowners to make some money. Adding on to your home or remodeling to make a separate living space may sound like a hefty project with time and money, but with the rent prices increasing in OC all the time, we think it would be very worth it.
Real Life Scenarios
We spoke to a San Juan Capistrano retiree who decided to do just this in order to make some extra money while being retired. She bought a pre-fabbed ADU for around $60,000 and is renting it for around $2,500 a month. By doing this it will be paid off in around 3 years so she will be pocketing all of that rent money every month. What a perfect way for a retired person to make some extra vacation money or start saving for grandkids to go to college!
If you want more information on how you can add an ADU to your property and what you could rent it for, fill out the form below.
It all started with an incorrect payoff demand that had Friday’s date instead of Monday or Tuesday. The property auction was scheduled for Tuesday 8/7 at 1pm. The bank HAD to be paid off before that time. Escrow brought this to my attention the previous week, stating the attorneys who were acting as the trustees for Flagstar Mortgage were not getting them the updated payoff demand. For the record, the buyer was SUPPOSED to bring his funds to escrow on Friday, but he was ‘too busy’. Gee, thanks. Attorneys moving slow, cash investors moving slow…us prodding cattle.
At 11:57am I receive a call from David Woods with The Office of the President at Flagstar Bank. They advise me they cannot speak to me unless I get a client on the phone. I call him, no answer. I call her, no answer. SERIOUSLY??! I text him & ask the nice man on the phone if I can try to call him again. He finally picks up, and confirms it’s ok to speak with me. The Flagstar person explains that because of Twitter, our case was escalated to the Office of the President and it is now being constantly monitored. We explain to him that we need Flagstar to advise the attorneys at Zieve to postpone the sale. He says he won’t keep us in suspense any longer, that they have just done this, and will give us a 7 day extension. I would have cried of happiness but my client was still on the phone. I receive an email from Zieve while David was still on the line that they have received the request to postpone the foreclosure, and will oblige. I tell David he is my hero, and I get his direct contact info as he promises to quarterback any lagging parties for me. I wish I could find him personally on social but I can’t find him anywhere?! Regardless, I tweet out a success & thank you to my social outlets, so everyone knows Flagstar did the right thing.
Real Estate Collaborative Specialist – Divorce
Scenario 2: “It’s ok, I’ll just go buy another house.”
Vow2Save 
With Memorial Day around the corner we wanted to help you with one of your most precious items to move – MEMORIES! We have just the company to help you keep all those memories and pictures safe during a move. 
This blog post comes from deep in the country of MI, a little township called Richmond. My grandparents have owned property there since before I was born, and two years ago my sister, cousin, & I purchased their 10 acres of land; because it is ‘Our Happy Place’. Recently we received a postcard invitation to attend a town hall meeting & have a discussion on whether or not Richmond residents will ‘opt in’ to any or all aspects surrounding Canna-biz.
Of course, family is a huge concern. People didn’t want to expose ‘that’ to their children. Others felt their children might get lured into a world of addiction. Yikes & no thanks! But is that really what’s happening out there? Are we setting up our kids to fail? Here’s an article from the Washington Post that states 12th grade kids in Colorado are no more likely to engage in the ganja than they were before.
Another comment made by some folks at the meeting is they did not want to drive in their beautiful town & see the landscape all changed up with mega-sized industrial and commercial grow buildings. Richmond does pride itself on being stuck in time, and it’s honestly one of the things I love about it. I am seeing these enormous commercial buildings purchased frequently in CA’s Inland Empire, but in MI they would need to be built or we could repurpose existing eyesores. This means that proactive towns have the opportunity to define what that looks like. If you’re in an area having this debate – get involved & voice your opinion so you don’t end up with a green dispensary next door! My suggestion for MI: make it look like a barn. And if you want to talk about EYESORES….how bout you do something about your real barn that has been falling down plank by plank for the last 20 years??? (just sayin, ppl)
The saddest moment of the meeting to me was when a Veteran stood up and said he was a medical cannabis patient and he truly tried every ‘drug’ to help the anxiety until he came across marijuana. He said marijuana helped him heal & he encouraged the attendees to view it as medicine. Another VA had the nerve to speak up & say he went to war too & didn’t need any of that. To me….how dare any of us judge what heals another. I was tempted to stand up and shout that the real poisonous drugs were the Big Pharma ones in everyone’s medicine cabinet…but that would not have went over well hahaha! Baby steps people… Start by watching 
Every year we make a point to attend the annual OCR meeting. This 3 hour event is filled with great information about what’s happening in our association and community, and it helps us stay on the pulse of the everchanging real estate market.
Orange County Real Estate Success 