Renting Out an ADU: Preparing Your ADU for Renters

With the growing housing crunch in Hawaii, it's no surprise that an increasing number of homeowners are building additional residences onto their properties. Renting out an ADU is a recurring theme in Oahu, allowing owners to earn capitalize on the market.

You see, although ADUs are traditionally between 400 square foot and 800 square foot, they can provide comfortable private accommodations for individuals, couples, and small families.

So, if you're considering leasing out your ADU, here are a few decisions you'll have to make, including, who will live there.

Renting Out Your ADU

One of the primary reasons for authorizing ADUs is to ease the demand for small affordable rental homes meaning that homeowners who build an ADU are in a unique position to become much-needed landlords.

Of course, you can't just open your freshly painted doors and start collecting rent.

Being a landlord involves a collection of specific responsibilities starting with providing a quality home completely equipped to be move-in ready. So, becoming a landlord by renting out your ADU starts with preparing the new home.

Complete Construction

This may be a laughable place to start, but it's important that the house is officially finished prior to renting.

All walls, painting, flooring, roofing, and so on need to be complete so that the home is energy efficient, can be climate controlled, and is safe to live in.

This is, admittedly, a bigger concern for homes built DIY than by licensed contractors who will wrap up their work with a full inspection.

Turn On and Test the Utilities

One of your biggest responsibilities is to ensure that your tenants always have access to water, power, and climate control.

So run the taps, test to make sure the water flows clean, tastes right, and gets hot reasonably quickly.

Check every outlet with a small lamp or charge tester and flip all light switches to make sure they work. It's also time to start climate-controlling the house.

Turn on the thermostat and make sure the home can get down to 60 degrees on its own, then set it at something maintainable. This will keep the air dry and make the home comfortable to work in and tour.

Buy and Install Appliances

When a home is built, some appliances are automatically installed and some are not. You probably have a water heater and AC already but may not have a stove, fridge, oven, dishwasher, and washer/dryer.

Buy and install a new highly-rated appliance for each hookup and make sure they are in good working order. Consider looking into compact appliances for space efficiency.

Appliances are very important to renters because they don't have their own to move with. You'll also want to make sure there's a light bulb in every fixture. We suggest LED bulbs because they're low on power usage and last much longer.

Clear and Deep Clean

With complete walls, working utilities, and a full set of appliances, the home is almost move-in ready.

Your final necessary task for preparing the ADU for renting is to clear and clean the place up.

Construction, appliance installation, and general preparation tasks have likely left the place a little dusty with bits of tools and installation supplies left lying around on counters and floors.

Start by doing a full sweep of the house to remove anything that you don't intend to leave for the renters to use, then deep clean the entire ADU from top to bottom.

Vacuum and wipe down everything. If a great deal of dust has fallen into the carpet, consider steam cleaning to make it completely fresh again.

The Final Touches

Now it's time to make your cozy little ADU as welcoming as possible. If there are blinds or curtains, open them to let in the sunshine.

Also, consider opening the windows to capture that tropical breeze. Finally, add a little internal fragrance like cinnamon or vanilla to each room to bring extra zest.

Doing so will clear away some, of the recent-construction smells and create an inviting ambiance for your potential renters as they move in.

When you're finished, your ADU should look pristine, empty, and ready for renters. The cleaning wave will have left the little home smelling fresh and simply by opening up the windows, you can invite in the delightful smells of your neighborhood to air out the unit!

Now your ADU is move-in ready and you're prepared to start thinking about renters.

For more tips and tricks on building and managing an ADU, contact us today!