First time poster, long time lurker, just wanted to share my story because I think it could be very helpful to others in a similar situation. So my wife and I have been OBSSESED with the idea of owning multi family properties but in the Atlanta market we are simply priced out of most opportunities. That's when we decided to create our own opportunity by turning our garage into a fully equipped studio apartment.  We spent 30k on the project and now its renting for 1200 per month which covers our mortgage and some of our utilities! We effectively turned our single family home into a duplex. It doesn't stop here though, because the addition of the apartment added massive value to the home we are able to access more equity which we are going to use to build 2-4 more units in our back yard (we have a large backyard that runs all the way back to the other street.  We went from throwing our hands up in frustration because we couldn't afford to buy a duplex/triplex to literally creating our own multi family investment property at a price point that is well below market rates. Just know guys that when one door closes another will open up if you stay focused on your vision of the future. Thanks for all the inspiration that this community has given us over the years we wanted to share our story as a way of giving back.  So if any of you are letting your garages sit empty just think of the income possibilities that could be created from converting it into an apartment! Let me know if any of you have questions about the process we went to to get the permiting, finding contractors etc.