All Forum Posts by: Matthew Forrest

@David Maldonado Having experience building an ADU and looking at the appraisal afterwards, I would build the duplex. Consult an appraiser in your area, but I expect the valve for the duplex to be significantly higher... you get what you pay for.

@Shane McQuerter It looks to me like you've really thought this through and you have some amazing feedback. I particular appreciate @Jon Schwartz's analysis... very impressive. At the end of the day I think you would be fine going either way. I started house hacking in 2018, then bought out of state in 2019 and now invest in LA full-time. From my perspective, it's more important that you look at the numbers, make a decision, and take action. In both situations you'll learn a lot and put yourself in a position where you will probably be able to do the other option down the road.

@Victor G. A little late to the post, but I also vote for all electric. All electric is the future and I would think that the largest decision point of which to go with (I think operating cost is pretty comparable) is the tenant/owner aversion to electric stoves. I agree with you on the induction stove. They're a little pricier, but they converted me from thinking that a gas stove is anywhere close to as good as electric. 

@Jin Zhang If you convert an attached garage it could be either a ADU or a JADU. It's up to you how you want it to be permitted. Whether it's a ADU or JADU will determine the minimum required scope of work.

Random unsolicited comment... I'm personally not a fan of JADUs with current regulations. 

@Brandon Carlson I don't have any experience with pre-approved ADU plans, but getting the plans approved were definitely the most difficult part of my project. Im not 100% sure if that was because I had a bad architect, but avoiding the back and forth with the city was definitely worth more than
$4500 - $7000. From what I understand I feel like you get more than the plans, you also get the architects relationship with the city planning office as well as experience on how to get things through as quickly as possible.

As a side note, what's stopping you from getting started on the projects? I sounds like you're pretty committed to doing it so every day you wait is a day your forgoing rental income that you'll never get back. Unless your cash is currently deployed elsewhere, the opportunity cost of not doing it is huge!

@Tecsia Evans I do not have kids, but I have a tenant who lives in my ADU and my girlfriend lives in an ADU at the place of a family that frequently has kids/grandkids over. I definitely skew towards the side of being okay with tenants sharing my space... so much so that I wouldn't mind having roommates when I have kids (maybe I am being naive). In my experience my tenant respectfully only walks in and out. At my girlfriends place I always say hello to the kids or play basketball with them. I think you'll be fine with thorough tenant screening.

@Hannah Joy Go to some virtual MeetUps and you'll naturally find someone you feel comfortable asking general questions to. They may not official be your mentor, but the relationship will grow from there. 

@Hannah Joy In your circumstances I would make sure you feel adequately educated. What adequately means is different to everyone, but finding an experienced mentor in your area can help you with your decision making. However, once you feel educated I like to go by the proverb that goes something like "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago... the second best time is now."

@Daniel Krantz I added an ADU to my SFR property and that allowed it to cashflow.I didn't force any appreciation, but it will help you numbers for a long term hold.

In the future I don't think I would build another ADU unless the property has 5+ units. The ADU could hurt financing options for anything with 2-4 units and doesn't added enough valve to a SFR.

@Ray Martinez Every situation is different, but if I had to bet on it I would say no. Building an ADU has not proven to be a very good forced appreciation strategy.