All Forum Posts by: Thomas Holdstein

Hi all - 

I'm looking at an investment property in St. Pete. Neighborhood Suburban (NS) Zoning - so newly eligible for a new ADU build. The property size meets the requirements for NS to add an ADU under the recently adopted Ordinance 509-H - and we were able to confirm that with the city. There is already a detached garage that can be converted to an ADU - so the second structure already exists on the property.

What I've been unable to confirm with the City (waiting on a Dev Rev appointment ...) is - can I rent the both the primary house and the ADU separately? Effectively - by adding the ADU, I'd like to make it a two unit property (ala a Duplex). The cashflow doesn't work without doing so. Any experience, guidance, knowledge on this would be much appreciated. Let me know if any other detail/context would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Hi All - 

Long time listner/reader - first time caller poster... hopefully this is the right location for this post

We're looking at a house in St. Petersburg. The house has an ADU and a finished attic. These are not all that common of features in the area (ADU's somewhat more so), and its hard to tell from the identifiable comps how the market might value them.

Ultimately this is very usable space - but given an ultimate buyers appraisal may affect their ability to pay, we're trying to think through how an appraisal is likely to value these parts of the property. 

The Attic has sloped roofs going down to knee walls. Majority of the space (75%+) has a roof height of greater than 5 feet - which seems to be the prevailing threshold per ANSI rules. The ADU is fully detached and finished - it would make a good rental, mother-in-law, guest/office space etc.

So our questions are -

1. 1. how are appraiser valuing these two types of spaces in the St. Pete / Tampa market
2. 2. For ADU's - I've seen older posts on them being attributed limited value despite the additional sqft, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. they add to the property, but the methodology seems to be geography specific. Are ADU's frequently assigned arbitrarily low values in the St. Pete market? Do you think this is changing/evolving as the city changes policy, COVID, etc.?
3. 3. Do you think there is a disconnect between how buyers might value these spaces vs. appraiser (and therefore ultimately lenders)?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, benefits of experience, and general interest. We get that these aren't straightforward questions - looking forward to the discussion.