Interested in buying in the Portland area

[Travis Athougies]

After a few years away, my wife and I have moved back to the Portland area with our baby girl. We're hoping to buy a duplex or a detached SFH with an ADU/mother-in-law apartment. We want a walkable enough neighborhood, and I want a reasonable commute to work (<40 minutes).

I haven't noticed much multi-family inventory in the markets we are most interested in -- Sellwood, Woodstock, the Morelands. We're most interested in small duplexes. Triplexes and four plexes are likely too much for us to chew off at this point. I am now considering more seriously a detached home with ADU or with ADU potential (Perhaps a basement). This property is not just an investment, but one that we plan on living in. However, I still want it to make financial sense. I'm willing to pay more for a turnkey property, but there seems to be few of those available.

I'm wondering about the feasibility of converting a basement or garage into an ADU for that extra income. If so, can anyone guide me in reasoning how much this should cost so that we can keep our total cost down to our price targets (<$800k)?

On the other hand, I'm not sure if we need to wait longer for inventory to become available.

Additionally if anyone has any back of the envelope calculations or tips on how to choose an owner-occupied duplex / SFH with ADU, that would be appreciated. I'm not sure if the 1 percent rule really applies in the PDX market, but we're kind of committed to living there, as we have family and I work downtown.

I guess finally... are we going about this the right way?