ADU in the Dallas-Fort Worth area

[Shai Flax]

Hi BP!

I'm moving to the DFW area (not sure exactly where, TBD) and I thought house hack can be a great idea, but- it looks like that can only be a dream with those prices...

I thought about purchasing a property on a bigger lot and building an ADU on it, that way I'll be living in the ADU and the bigger house will be rented.

I understood that can be a problem, that most of the cities are not allowing ADUs and not giving a permit for that.

Does anyone here have any experience with it in this area? do you know if there's a loophole or somewhere that will give us a permit easily?

A follow-up question- what do I need to be prepared cost-wise? how much for an sqft?

TIA!

[Bruce Lynn]

Very few cities around DFW probably allow ADU. Most also don't want garages enclosed to living space. Long reasons for this, but they really don't want multi-family in single family neighborhood. There are a few areas of Dallas proper that have allowed where there was a detached garage and people put apartment over garage. There are discussions to allow more of this, but same issues always come up....are the aging sewer pipes going to handle the extra input....will the water systems hold up....where will people park? Does it create issues for emergency services....everyone parks on the street, so now fire can't get thru...etc. I won't say every city prohibits, but for the most part just something we don't see much of around here, and not because people haven't thought of it.