What is an ADU? - Paris Group Realty, LLC Portland OR
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What is an ADU?

Unlocking the Potential of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in Portland: A Flexible and Valuable Home Addition

If you’ve heard of a mother-in-law suite, a multigenerational home, or a garage apartment, you’re already familiar with the idea of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU). An ADU is an attached or detached structure that accompanies a home on the same piece of property. With the extra space, homeowners enjoy a flexible home design that increases the value of a home and offers a communal living concept without compromising privacy. This creative home addition also makes it possible to earn a passive income as a rental unit.

The concept is designed around a communal style of living without compromising privacy.

Though often much smaller than a typical house, an Accessory Dwelling Unit differs from a tiny home because an ADU must be built to standard building codes, requires building permits, and remains a fixed structure. Tiny homes aren’t usually held to those same requirements. Tiny homes also get their own quirky tv shows and inexplicable storage space.

Benefits of an Accessory Dwelling Unit:

  • Increases value and marketability of a property
  • Adds (mostly) passive income as a rental unit
  • Creates a communal living style while offering privacy
  • Accommodates family and friends who need temporary living arrangements
  • Allows for in-home health care services
  • Provides a reasonably priced rental in an established community

What to Expect When Building an ADU in Portland
In recent years, Portland has become known as an industry leader for ADUs and a city where this flexible home concept has been encouraged. City planners discovered that Accessory Dwelling Units help address the shortage of affordable rental homes in a rental market with quickly rising rental prices. Portland has developed especially flexible ADU regulations creating a thriving market for a creative solution to a common urban problem. When homeowners can add a separate structure to their property specifically as a rental unit, not only does their property value increase but also tenants have affordable housing options in established communities. The homeowners and tenants reap the benefits while helping to balancing out the overall rental market rates.

Designed to Help You Stay Flexible During Life’s Changes
You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone, especially a prospective buyer, disappointed with extra room that can designed to fit just about any lifestyle.

Accessory Dwelling Units can accommodate many different situations for homeowners whether they want to bring family members closer, make their property more marketable to potential buyers, or earn extra income by offering the ADU as a rented space. They can even maximize the potential income by renting out the main home while living in the extra space themselves.

When your property includes an ADU, that space can transform with each major (and minor) life change. A separate garage apartment might serve as a dedicated area to focus on new hobbies, somewhere for younger children to play, or a private living area for teens to gain more independence at home. A new business can take advantage of the separation of work and life when there’s a designated office space. That same dwelling can give college students a comfortable place to live during the short transition into adulthood or an elderly parent an autonomous lifestyle within close reach of their loved ones.

Have questions about ADUs? Please contact us any time, by phone or email! We always look forward to helping others better understand real estate, the home buying and selling process, and investment properties.

 

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