Who has an ADU at their Primary??

[LovinPSDs]

So I'm considering a house that has an ADU (1 bedroom, full kitchen, small living space) built behind the house.  Unit is two story, bedroom down, kitchen and living up with an 2nd story porch, also has a 1 car garage. 

So talk to me.. Pros, cons, regrets, legality?  We moved from LCOL to MCOL and have a bit of sticker shock.  My wife isn't super keen on the idea someone else in our personal space but I'm pretty keen on the ADU covering about 40% of the mortgage.   

What do I need to know before asking to see this place today or tomorrow?

[bacchi]

Is it legal and permitted? Is there an "A" and "B" mailbox?

What are the rents in your neighborhood for a 1-1?

What about parking for the ADU?

Are there 2 meters for electricity?


Edit: If your area has any homeowner's property tax benefit, is the property split or taxed as one unit?

[LovinPSDs]

Bacchi - All questions I had on my list, especially Permitting....  Owner states the unit is currently rented at $700 a month, but it's not clear yet if that's separate utilities or not.

Parking appears to be a non-issue, the unit actually has a 1 car garage on the bottom floor.

[seattlecyclone]

The rules about these vary widely from place to place. In Seattle the rule used to be that the owner had to live in one unit or the other, didn't matter which. Now they can both be rentals. Could I envision a city where they required the owner to live in the bigger one? Sure.

[SimpleCycle]

These were recently made legal in my city again (have been illegal since the 50s) and I am very interested to know how having one affects your property value as they get added to existing lots.  We're also divided about the "someone else living in your space" issue.

In my city newly built conforming ADUs cannot be short term rentals like AirBnB.  Most existing ADUs are non-conforming, which is a nice way of saying illegal.  Having a non-conforming ADU on your property can make it hard to get a mortgage, which will be important to you as the buyer and also important when you are selling.  You want to make sure the property meets Fannie Mae's "one unit with ADU" definition, rather than their two unit definition.

[LovinPSDs]

Very good info on the load side SimpleCycle, I appreciate that!

Seattlecyclone - Not sure the 4 of us are going to pull off the 1 bedroom, although with a killer outdoor space, I could be convinced to go pretty small.  looking to offset the "American Dream" of houses with the ADU somewhat.

[clarkfan1979]

I have a mother in law suite in the lower level with a separate entrance. It's legal as long as it doesn't have a full kitchen. You can have shelves, but no cabinets, small bar sink and no oven. Based on my overall set-up, it wasn't a big deal. We saw our tenants about 1-2 times/month.