Portland, OR- is it worth converting single family to duplex?

[Liliana Quilici]

Hi all-

New to the forum here and never posted- hope I'm doing this in the right spot. I'd love to get a duplex in Portland - hack it out and live in half the unit. I'd be a first time homeowner so I'd like to use a FHA loan which tops me out at 608k max for a duplex or 485 max for single family home. The problem I'm seeing is most duplexes are over the 608 price. Lots of homes under my max for single family.

I'm wondering if it makes sense to buy a single family and go though the process of converting to a legal duplex. Anothere, easier option is converting basement into an ADU in single family. However, I'm looking at single family homes with ADUs and the resale is not nearly as good as the duplexes. I imagine the investment potential would be greater with converting to a duplex.

I imagine it would be a big project and depends on the home- I’m not sure if I’m being glass-half-full or entirely delusional :)

Has anybody here converted a single fam to duplex in Portland? If so, how hard was the process (through the city to get it a legal duplex) and what should I be looking at as far as single fam homes? Im thinking zoning would be an issue- I’m a little confused about which zones to check into. I think it would be R1,2,3, Rh, RX and RMP.

Thaaannnnnkkkksssssss

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Neal Collins:

@Liliana Quilici

I'd look more closely at your theory that duplexes go for higher premiums than houses with ADU's. In my opinion the opposite is true most of the time.

We'll start to see a continued progression of large houses being chopped up into smaller apartments, but if you are going the route of first time home buyer loans you could look into an FHA on a multifamily, a home renovation loan, or even get an ADU put on your property for free with a program like Dweller.

 Neal   good afternoon  hope the city is still ok after today  LOL.. but what is Dweller ?  can you expound on that for the audience. ?