How was your ADU experience in Riverside, CA?

[Juan Ayala]

I am buying a new construction in Riverside, California. We are going to add an ADU to the backyard and maybe convert the garage as well. I'd love to hear from others in southern California and how your experience was with everything? From the contractor, you used to dealing with Riverside county...TIA

[Peter Mckernan]

Hey @Juan Ayala great idea, always very bullish on the ADU strategy. The build and garage conversion will be great, those are only for primary (ADU+JADU). Great income and a great use of house hacking. We have one in San Bernardino County, and we are looking for another one to do.

A couple things that you need to be caution of while building an ADU. The building from ground up can get pricy, so make sure that you get 3-5 quotes from contractors. My experience, you'll get quotes from $165psf-$210psf depending on the area, size, conversion or ground up etc.

The permits will take awhile to get approved, my experience 60-120 days, and be sure to be ready to build once you get that approval from the city. Also, one other thing about on the refi/sales price. If you do not have comps in the area that support the sales price or refi you are looking for you may run into issues. There was a property that is close to one of my ADUs that just sold and the comp gives us an even higher price to refi the house. If you and I were having this conversation in 3 years this would be different, but there are still a lack of comps for these in the majority of the areas. Be sure to do your due diligence for any comps in the area.