Looking for information about changing SFH into Duplex

[John Cannon]

Hi All - Long time listener, first time caller. 

My wife and I are looking to move to Austin, TX in the coming months and purchase a home. We are looking at multi-families as we want to house hack and try our hand at being a landlord, going through the rehab, etc. We have a long list of must haves that I won't get into here, but my ask is around converting single family homes into Duplexes/Triplexes. As there are far more SFH's than duplexes, I wanted to educate myself more here:

-What are the laws we need to be aware of in going through this process?

-What are some of the best practices? 

-Outside of separating water, ensuring new walls are fireproof, what other large expenses should be anticipated?

-Are you able to use a 203k FHA to do this? If not, why?

If anyone has gone through this process, I'd love to learn more from you about your experience! 

[Ryan Kelly]

@John Cannon First of all, welcome to Austin! You will need to start by ensuring the zoning for that property will even allow for such a conversion. I do not see many, if any, properties that have gone through this conversion, but I'm sure there are some in older neighborhoods. If there are no major restrictions, you will also need to work with the city development department to ensure you are providing the proper parking, fire protection, etc. Most single-family neighborhood deed restrictions will likely restrict this type of conversion, so do a lot of due diligence upfront before you make the decision to start any construction. Happy to chat about the Austin market in detail if you want to learn more.