Triplexing of single family homes in CA

[Jose Leanos]

Hello all,

I am deciding between selling my single family home in Long Beach, CA in order to purchase a multi family property and using a cash out refinance to build an ADU and junior ADU. I currently have about 55% equity in my home which would net me about 220k(assuming a Loan to Value ration of 80%) and converting my attached garage(400 sq ft) into a junior ADU and then building a free standing ADU in my backyard. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with "triplexing" a single family residence, I wanted to know what some best practices are when doing so, such as whether separate meters will be worth the added cost, what is the down time between permits and construction and lastly what is the actual cost. I have gotten different things online in regards to cost to build and I am assuming that 220k would be enough to cover the costs of the garage conversion to a junior adu and also the building of a free standing structure adu but again I have many questions about this process.

I am torn, because I was really set on selling my home to start house hacking with a multi family property, but the idea of "triplexing" also works out well as far as the numbers are concerned and my mortgage would still remain relatively inexpensive. Added bonus I would not have to move. Please give tips on ADU and junior ADU's in California, or if multifamily is your preferred method why not ADU's and junior ADU's.

Best

Weighing the pros and cons