Utah's Home Renovation Expert

One of the newest phenomenon that has happened in the last few years, and has accelerated since the pandemic has been the value of existing and new homes becoming almost too expensive for many people to afford. There has been housing inflation in the past but it seems that many components of a home have grown scarcer (i.e. lumber and wood products) and the lack of skilled labor has pushed the affordability index much higher than in the past. Dependent upon the area in which you live housing could have increased by as much as 48-52% during this period of time. As government officials, builders, and consumers have approached this problem and hope to bring reason to a solution, one idea has become a possible key to solving the problem, one that also helps provide more space for people to live and also helps homeowners afford a home. This solution is in an accessory apartment or ADU. They actually have a long history in our country with a Carriage House, being used as an apartment over a garage, or actually over a stable where carriage and horses where kept. The upstairs on these units often housed people who worked in the home, garden, or with the transportation of whomever lived in the main house. This use of an accessory way to house additional people actually went out of favor for a century or more. Only during the last 10-20 years has there been new interest in the use of this type of housing being used by a homeowner. Now, the accessory apartments may take the form of a basement apartment (using all or part of a homeowners basement), a tiny (cute) house on the same property as the existing home, or an apartment that is over the garage. All of these options can be available to a homeowner to provide additional income to pay their mortgage. Whatever form these apartments take, they are part of the property of the existing home. They cannot be sold separately and the owner of the home also owns the accessory apartment. These homes can be called, mother-in-law apartments, secondary dwelling units or hundreds of other names. The main reason that a homeowner would consider this option is to either gain income or to house someone who is a member of their family. While there are major advantages to this arrangement, there are often deterrents to their use. Almost every city entity has written code for accessory apartments. You must conform to their code in order to build and rent this apartment. Some of these might be: how many square feet has to be in the apartment, separate entrances, provision for kitchens and bathrooms, ceiling height (no 7 foot ceilings), and very important provision for parking. This can be as few as one parking space for the apartment, or as many as three. Usually accessory apartments must continue to look like one primary residence and must have the same address. The apartment must not be used for short term rental, (Air B&B), and there must be a separate entrance with a fire rated door to the additional apartment. Additionally a maximum of one accessory apartment will be allowed in a single family home. If a homeowner begins to see the benefit or necessity for an apartment they then need to assess several things. The city that the home is in may be open to an accessory apartments and they will always have an application, and provisions that must be met. For example, the owner must submit an application, floor plans, an exterior rendering and of course there are always FEES. There is an example of an application for an accessory dwelling unit below. This actual city is in Utah County but similar applications are required in almost every city in Utah. This is the first and most important step in the process because if the city you are located in will not allow an apartment then you cannot continue. The next step is to consider your ability to finance this alteration to your property. Shelby Coolidge, who is an experienced loan provider in Utah for residential and commercial properties, spoke with me about how to do this. Any homeowner that has a good credit rating, and adequate equity for a refinance of their home could potentially do this. There are some houses that the owners have not had enough money to adequately repair, paint, or fix parts of their home and therefore the home has declined in value and beauty. By approaching a refinance with the purpose of upgrading the upstairs of their home and building the ADU it can provide enough income to pay for the new mortgage. Many times, lots have a smaller front yard but have good property depth behind their house. This could be used for a tiny house and provide aging parents or a college student with a place to stay that won’t put them in more debt. Homes have spacious basements that could be divided into two parts, one for the homeowners to use for their purposes and the rest into that ADU. The final, and perhaps best way to access this opportunity, would be to either put another story on a detached garage or to construct another garage and put an apartment above. So, to the point of why a homeowner would do all of this in order to have another person living close to them. Rental rates in Utah have gone up faster than even housing costs, with a two bedroom apartment, in many cities, renting from $1200.00 to $1400.00/month. If the renter needs more room than the normal two bedroom you could be getting closer to $1600.00/month. If a homeowner goes to the effort to remodel and include an apartment as part of their property they can expect to be able to finance, at least, $100,000 in additional mortgage without having to pay more per month. Their new apartment will be the financial engine behind this windfall. Whichever path you choose for accessing the equity in your home to provide space and income there’s an opportunity to design beauty and function into your NEW HOME. Complete Design has years of experience in imagining and creating not only beautiful homes, but also bringing new life through remodeling and adding accessory apartments. The use of your equity to improve your existing home and create rental income can be a perfect use of this process. Whatever you are thinking about, we can help it become a reality through design, finance, and the actual building process. Call us at Complete-Dezign for help moving forward.