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Granny Flats in California are Gaining in Popularity

California Granny Flat

In order to put a dent in California’s housing shortage, state and local lawmakers have eliminated a substantial amount of red tape to allow homeowners to build second residences on a property.

We are seeing reduced building impact fees, reduced parking and setback requirements and the waiver for owner-occupancy on site. All these changes have been made to encourage ADU construction throughout the state to combat the state’s ever growing housing shortage.

Because we have had home construction lagging population growth, California’s Statewide Housing Plan calls for an acceleration of new home construction over the next eight years with a target of 2.5 million homes. This target is broken down as follows:

  • 643,352 very-low-income homes
  • 384,910 low-income homes
  • 420,814 moderate-income homes
  • 1,051,177 above-moderate-income homes

Some roadblocks that have been experienced include restrictions on drilling a new well (Sonoma County) and making your new build all electric (Marin County).  There are still issues with material shortages that make for slow-going in the building process.

Most builders of an ADU would definitely do it again in spite of all the difficulties they experienced in the build.  Roadblocks encountered differ from county to county. For instance, Sonoma County allows you to go right to the county website and choose preapproved plans. Their permitting process is more streamlined because they want more rentals.  In Napa County supervisors launched a $5 million forgivable loan program for residents who build ADUs and rent them below market value. There are other programs in the North Bay Counties that exist to encourage the ADU build out.

If you are considering an ADU for your property and have sufficient equity in your home, you might want to investigate a refinance with extra cash out or even a 2nd mortgage with Sun Pacific Mortgage.  We are a private lender with 35+ years of experience in California real estate lending. We offer fast, flexible and expert alternative financing. Give us a call at 707-523-2099 or visit our website at www.sunpacificmortgage.com.

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Loan Originator and Co-Owner of Sun Pacific Mortgage. Family owned and operated since 1988!