If there's one thing I've learned in both life and real estate, it's that timing has a funny way of working itself out. Many people often hear me say, "If it's meant to be, it will be." Sometimes the perfect house isn't the one you buy. Sometimes it's the one that patiently waits for you.
This story, The ADU Diaries, actually begins nearly twenty years before we ever built our ADU.
In 2006, my dad passed away. My parents had retired early and were living their dream in the Sierra Nevada foothills on 45 beautiful acres in the small town of Rescue, California. My mom had been living with multiple sclerosis since she was diagnosed in her early thirties, and after losing my dad, it became clear she needed to be closer to family. She was still independent, but she needed a little extra help.
Chuck and I were living in Gilroy at the time, raising our three kids, and naturally we wanted my mom nearby. BTW... the real hero of this entire story is Chuck. He was an amazing son-in-law, patient, kind, supportive, always there to lend a helping hand. I digress... Back to 2006, almost as if it had been placed in front of us, a property came on the market in Morgan Hill. It was everything we could have hoped for - just over an acre, great house, a beautiful yard, a 3-car garage AND an additional detached 1,200-square-foot garage that immediately caught our attention.
I remember thinking, This could become the perfect place for my Mom. There was just one problem.
Actually...two.
The homeowners association prohibited accessory dwelling units (ADU's), and when I excitedly shared my vision with my mom, she looked at me and said, very matter-of-factly,
"I'm not going to live in a garage."
Looking back now, I can't help but laugh. She had zero vision. Needless to say, we passed on the property and it sold to someone else. And, instead, we found another solution. As luck would have it (and perhaps it helps to be in real estate) we were able to negotiate with our next-door neighbor in Gilroy to purchase the house immediately beside ours for my mom. Looking back, I honestly don't think we could have designed a better situation. For the next eight years, my mom had her own home, her own belongings, and most importantly, her independence. But she was never alone. She joined us for dinner almost every evening. She watched our three kids grow up. Helped pick the kids up from school. Volunteered at their school. Our dog George happily kept her company during the day. As her MS progressed, and her eventual cancer diagnosis, we were able to bring in caregivers while still allowing her to remain at her home surrounded by her family.
Without realizing it at the time, we were living what people today call multigenerational living. Back then, it simply felt like the right thing to do. If this is a situation your family is facing, we are here to help to offer our experiences and guidance. Those eight years gave us something that can't be measured in dollars or square footage. They gave our children a more intimate relationship with their grandmother and they gave my mom dignity and independence.
When my mom passed away in 2014, we began preparing her house to become a rental property. Clearing out her belongings was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Every box held memories, and I wasn't quite ready to let go.
Around that same time, Chuck had left his career in the cycling industry at Specialized Bicycles and got his real estate license. At his very first office meeting, a new listing was announced.
It was that house. The one we had fallen in love with back in 2006. The one with the detached "extra" garage. The one my mom had refused to "live in." Life had brought this house back to us. The timing, finally, was right. We purchased the home, knowing that California law still didn't make building an ADU easy. The detached garage became exactly what so many oversized garages become, a place where life accumulated.
Boxes of Legos. Thomas the Tank Engine trains. Baseball cards. A weight bench. A pool table. Furniture from listings that Chuck promised to get rid of for a client. Family keepsakes. My brother's fishing boat. A golf cart. A piano. It became our family's catch-all for memories, projects, and things we simply weren't ready to part with. For years, that garage quietly waited (or hosted the occasional high school rager come to find out).
Then California's ADU laws began to change. Thank you AB670 and AB3182 (more to come on these laws)
I realized the space was no longer serving us - we were serving the stuff. As someone who helps clients every day think about the highest and best use of their homes, I finally had to ask myself the same question:
Was storing decades of belongings really the highest and best use of a 1,200-square-foot building?
I already knew the answer. I was looking at potential. The same potential I had seen back in 2006. Only this time...the timing was finally right.
Next time, I'll share how a garage full of memories became a thoughtfully designed 749-square-foot home, turned rental, why we chose to become owner-builders, and what we learned throughout the entire process. Check back for more to the story...
