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City’s Planning Department Provides Free Casita Construction Plans to Community The City of Albuquerque’s Planning Department has released four different casita construction plan sets, all for free to the public. These plan sets range in size from 450 to 750 square feet and meet the currently adopted building codes and standards. These will save thousands…

Expanding the footprint of your house might seem like a smaller project, but planning-wise, it’s as intense as doing a full reno. I consider myself knowledgeable about real estate and renovations. I’ve purchased two homes; renovated one house entirely and built the other one from the ground up. So, when we had water damage throughout…

Unless expressly denied by legitimate neighborhood covenants, every lot in Santa Fe able to fit a casita has a right to have one. Converting garages, adding second stories, or creating dwelling units from existing homes also is allowed. Until now, what has not been allowed is calculating income from an accessory dwelling unit into a…

by Kendyl Young September 19, 2023 SHARE ADUs, or accessory dwelling units, are the hot topic in real estate, but what are they worth? Illustrative story: A homebuyer recently commented that he had “overpaid” by $100,000 for a home that had a tiny home in the backyard. Did he? It depends on what he meant…

Budget Breakdown: This $153K Garage Retrofit Is the “Taj Mahal of ADU” A puzzle-box transforming wall, a cathedral-like ceiling, and natural light galore—is this a rental unit or a palace? What do you call it when a couple with an underutilized three-car garage accidentally find themselves at dinner with an architect specializing in ADU design?…

BUDGET BREAKDOWN: A pandemic pivot led a couple to change course and take up carpentry. Their first project? Their home. Leonardo Finotti Masa Arquitectos designed this minimalist house in Montevideo, Uruguay, for a young family on a tight budget who wanted to do most of the carpentry themselves. The wood-and-glass home has an adaptable layout,…

Budget Breakdown: A Family Builds a Tiny ADU for $46K—”and You Can Purchase the Plans After developing a backyard house with the Yeons, D.C. area firm Aroom is now selling its playbook for the design that includes Ikea-esque drawings. Sarah Yeon is attached to her family’s Fairfax, Virginia, home. She and her husband, Abraham, bought…

Budget Breakdown: A Seattle couple built their own backyard house with a city-sponsored design—and then rented out their old home on the property to friends. BY Brian Libby When Chris Cloud and Adrianne  Braun purchased a small house in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood five years ago, they were particularly excited about its large back lot,…

Courtesy of Downtown Albuquerque News, August 22, 2023 The mayor’s housing bill passed in June, albeit with some major modifications. Now what happens? There are plenty of X-factors, but the answer may well be ‘not much’ Parking and other restrictions seen as major impediments to construction A Q & A guide Squeakers don’t get much…