All Forum Posts by: Aimee Lawrence

Anyone in the Fort Collins or Northern Colorado area have a contact to build an ADU? Any and all input/advice welcome. I was thinking of also contacting Studio Shed? I'm open to prefab but don't know where to start.

Thank you!!

@Joaquin Camarasa If the sh*t hits the fan and I’m going down, it’s going to be sitting in a cafe in a beautiful European city. That’s how I want to go out!😂

I’ve been reading what the analysts have been saying and I’m somewhere between “it’s going to hurt a little” and, “I need to sell everything and move to Europe”. I’d love to hear everybody’s thoughts! 

@Darius Ogloza We did check with zoning and we just need 6,000 square foot per dwelling. Our ADU restrictions are easing for the same reasons. Privacy is definitely a consideration, it would have to be the right person.

We live in Fort Collins, CO and affordable housing is hard to find. We have a .34 acre lot and the way it's situated we could have a 500-800 square foot granny flat out back for a rental. We would still have our own yard and would have a fence to separate the properties. I'm pretty sure that we would be able to get about $1000 a month(it would have it's own little yard and patio). I'm just starting this process so I don't have hard numbers for what it might cost with permitting and sewer, etc. I would hope to do rooftop solar. But when I think about how hard it would be to get $1000 a month from any other investment, it seems like it would make sense. We would like to pay cash but even if we took a HELOC for say 40-50K, where else do you get that kind of cashflow with so little debt? We would share an outside entrance to the home via our side gate, but other than that I think we could keep things pretty separate.

Does anyone have experience or expertise to share? Thank you!!!!!

@Matthew Paul YES! I’m in healthcare and people are being furloughed like crazy. The hospitals are empty, no elective surgeries. It’s really hard because a lot of the people that were applying were out of work. They need a place to live, too!! And again, this is out of their control.  But, I’m not in a position to take a chance right now. 

@Seth Robertson exactly! I think credit is the most important thing to look at right now. None of us is in control, unfortunately, through this. People are unemployed though no fault of their own. But if credit is good  then it is an indicator of priorities. If it’s bad, you don’t have much to lose by not paying your rent. 

Thank you for all the great responses. I decided to verify employment for a tenant that we were going to offer the place and I’m glad we did. The income was significantly less than on the application. In the end we had great applicants and I’m grateful to have found good(hopefully) tenants. Thanks so much for the insight!

Thank you so much. I have never asked for proof of income before but I think I will now. @Ian I Leinwand our rental is not geared towards students so this has been helpful. We did have a number of people who were furloughed. This is so hard because it’s not their fault and they need to live somewhere.  We strongly considering a couple and one of them was furloughed. The spouses job seemed stable but we found out she inflated her income so decided against it. Thanks so much for all the insight!

Sorry for the typo in the title!!!