Attached ADU - a smart and beneficial investment
How can you increase the value of your property? What can be done to make it as attractive as possible and preferred among others on the market? These questions concern all owners, especially when they are about to sell.
There are many ways to “beautify” a home, of course, and to raise its price. Refreshing renovations, using appropriate furniture and decorations - everything that home staging is about.
But sometimes constructive changes are also needed - pushing walls or building ones, creating an additional living space. And so I come to the topic of this article – attached ADUs or the so-called in-law apartments. These private living areas within the family house can provide flexibility and financial benefits while also enhancing the living conditions of your home. Let’s see what they are and why they are so useful.
What is an attached ADU?
An accessory dwelling unit, usually just called an ADU, is a secondary housing unit on a single-family residential lot.
In my last project – a beautiful house in San Francisco, a spacious and bright apartment was constructed on the garage level. In addition to all the amenities, this attached residence also had a separate entrance and a direct access to the gorgeous backyard.
The construction of additional living space is an extremely far-sighted and economically profitable solution.
Benefits of having a separate living space within your property
Having an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ——Do not repeat what it is again——offers a range of practical and financial benefits. It’s a real innovative solution to different housing challenges.
Flexible usage
ADUs are generally designed to provide a comfortable long-term living situation for aging parents. But apart from that, they offer countless other applications. Accessory dwellings can also be used for a home office, a gym, for guests’ or babysitters’ accommodation, as well as a first separate residence for grown children. And best of all is that over time, you can change the purpose of this apartment - from a rental home at first to turning it into a space for family needs, or vice versa. This type of housing provides a high degree of flexibility.
Privacy
If in the past people were more inclined to share their living space with other people, be it relatives of a different generation, today independence is something we really value and try to ensure. Privacy is not only a necessity but a luxury, too, especially if you rent out part of your property.
Both owners and lodgers need to feel at home and to have at their disposal a private space only for themselves. The level of privacy that ADUs offer is difficult to achieve in a shared household.
Income source
Furthermore the opportunity for rental income increases your property ’s value. Future owners of the residence can cover mortgage payments, property taxes, or other household expenses with this additional profit.
Design tips for ADUs
There are no exact rules for the design of an ADU - the same requirements apply as for the main residence. The interior should provide comfort, practicality, functionality and make the place pleasant to live in. Only then does this type of additional living space make sense. In case you decide to save basic amenities, such as depriving the place of a bathroom or kitchen or not providing enough light and coziness, then your investment may lose its meaning.
As you can see from the photos, in this particular case I opted for the same style on the upper and lower levels. I chose to combine the elegance of white with the warmth and coziness of wood. I added some glass and metal accents and embellished the place with wall decorations and wooden wall panels. My efforts resulted in a beautiful, spacious and light-flooded bonus apartment, ready to meet the needs of the owners.
Creating extra amenities is always a good idea. In this case, a spacious semi-closed relaxation area with garden furniture was designed. Direct access to it from the attached ADU actually added more living space to it and provided a bonus place for gatherings or solitude.
Having an ADU is indeed a wise investment and usually an affordable way to maximize your property's potential. So it's definitely worth getting one if you have the right conditions and opportunity to do so. Moreover, the construction costs of this additional living area are much lower than the main residence. Usually less materials are needed and the whole construction process is lighter and faster when you have an existing structure like a garage for example, as it was in my case with the property in San Francisco.