ADU Appraisal California

[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.