Neighbor Spotlight: Julie and Tim in San Anselmo

My husband was raising two boys full-time, and when we got married, the oldest was graduating from high school soon 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. I’m not sure from the onset if we knew what we would do, but by the time the project was complete, we knew we’d live there.

It was an easy enough transition. We already didn’t have a ton a stuff and without the kids we could get rid of more. We designed the ADU for outdoor living, with a single-car garage door that opens up to make the space larger, and we use the front yard for entertaining. We rent out the house to a single woman with a four-year-old, who is an interior design buyer and keeps it immaculate. We lucked out.

It’s simpler and easier to live in an ADU. We have a smaller footprint with less stuff and will be able to have the mobile lifestyle we want. Before we were both working full-time in San Francisco and killing ourselves. Now, we don’t need two incomes. Eventually, we hope to live six months here and six months of the year in places like San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.

---

Location San Anselmo

ADU type new detached prefab

Price $120,000

Year completed 2019

Time to complete 2 years total

Size 544 SF