Detached garage possiblity in ca. Please help a newb

[Alex K.]

Hello everyone I just saw a property here CA that has need to detached garage with hard floors and an ac. I'm thinking about buying this property because I love the lay out and it was work for my house hack. The garage was just a bonus.

But I can't tell if it's a blessing or a curse. How are adus treated in California?

I'm guessing it's dependent upon each county and or City. Does anyone have experience converting a garage into an adu that is detached for renting purposes near Los Angeles?

[Derek Willis]

@Alex Ko I have a property in San Diego County which I just converted the detached garage into an ADU and the numbers are great. If its a blessing or curse could depend on if it was built with permits or not.

Assuming it was built without permits you can get it permitted but the cost will be higher due to penalties. Also, one thing I learned was it has to have parking setback space for the cars that no longer have a garage. This has been a show stopper for some I have talked to in this area about converting to an ADU. The new state law also no longer requires the home owner to live in main house effectively creating multi family properties on R1 zoning properties.

Assuming it was built with permits it is a blessing. I don't see many options around here for properties to cash flow unless they have ADU potential which is why my wife and I are targeting out of state.