All Forum Posts by: Steve Green

Hi Brint, what is THOW?

Hi Everyone,

I have a SFR in Portland, Oregon that is cash flow positive but not by a lot. I am evaluating a few options to improve this situation, one is "status quo" i.e wait another year and then decide since the next rent increase will improve the situation a little, two is to add a detached ADU which I have researched to confirm both feasibility and strong economics, and three is to see about selling the property as a development lot for multifamily, then using the proceeds on another investment. For option three I'm looking to find a mentor, real estate agent and/or appraiser that can help me understand the underlying value and marketability of my lot for multifamily as a comparison to adding an ADU. The location is very good with many small apartment and condo buildings being completed over the past several years, suggesting that this could be a better approach than the ADU option. My understanding is that the site zoning allows for 3 or 4 units as of my research a few years ago, this might even be more now based on some recent zoning law changes here. If you have any insights on this process, please share! Thanks in advance for your help. Regards, Steve

Hi everyone, thanks for all the great info you have shared on this post. I have been conducting research and there are some great detached design/build ADU companies as well as container home builders out there. The economics looks very good with either approach. I'm doing some further research on a multi-family approach before I commit to the ADU. Stay tuned and feel free to reach out to me with a PM anytime. Regards, Steve

Hi Everyone,

My first post here - I have been reading and studying the great resources on this site and learning a ton.  I have a single family rental in Portland that is cash flow positive, but not by a lot.  I ran it as a VRBO for a couple years and did well, but as my career got more intense I switched to longterm rental.

I'm researching adding a detached ADU to the lot to boost my returns. My livable square footage is about 1,800sf so that puts me at the limit of 800sf for the detached ADU assuming I am reading the code correctly. So I have several questions and I'm hoping the experts here can point me towards some good resources:

1. What are typical development costs for a detached ADU (permits, etc.)? Any good websites that show examples/typicals on these?
2. Where can I find a list of all costs to execute a detached ADU so that I can avoid surprises and overruns?
3. Anyone have a slick proforma excel document for a detached ADU?
4. I like the idea of container homes because of the "turnkey" nature and the fact that I could remove it at some future date to another site (or sell it) if/when I wanted to develop the lot to multifamily (which it is zoned for).  Are these allowed in Portland?  Anyone had any experience with these?
5. Any advice on configurations (# bedrooms/baths) to maximize returns?

Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

Regards,

SG