My husband was raising two boys full-time, and when we got married, the oldest had graduated from high school and the youngest wanted to go to boarding school. We told him if he could get himself in, he could go, and he did. Our house is on the small side, around 1100 square feet, but now we had two extra bedrooms and an under-used backyard. So, we thought why not build another unit and invest in our biggest asset?

When we were expecting our first child, there was an inescapable pull back to Marin. For ten years my husband and I had been living in San Francisco in a small one-bedroom apartment and going over the bridge to Marin for work. Plus, our moms still lived in the homes we grew up in and we wanted to be close to them.

We moved to Livermore and started an in-home preschool to spend more time with the family. By chance, a neighbor suggested building an ADU. The ADU ended up giving my family the privacy we needed and more space for our family from overseas.

My mom was a great support when I became a single parent and we wanted to keep our family together so we bought a house and built an ADU. The ADU has increased our property value and we’re grateful for the flexibility to rent or host visiting family. Teaming up has been a great gift and we’re so glad we took this leap together.

We moved to Hayward to start our family and realized our large backyard would be perfect for an ADU. Now we have a great tenant who is a recent local graduate. We’re grateful for the extra income and are happy to be supporting someone who is just starting out their career.

I was looking for an affordable rental in Alameda County but there were few options. In the end I found a private ADU in East Oakland which gave me independence, the freedom to restart my home business and create a sanctuary for my hobbies and passions.