The Beginner’s Guide to ADU & DADU Investing (2025)

Real Estate Rookie

BiggerPockets

How To, Education, Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Wish you could get more income out of your rental property? Then we’ve got the perfect investing strategy for you in today’s episode. It gives you another income stream, instantly increases your property’s value, and according to today’s expert, it’s even easier than making renovations. We’re talking about ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and their detached counterparts, DADUs! Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Leka Devatha, investor and author of Return on Real Estate, has created hundreds of thousands in added value just by building ADUs and DADUs on her existing properties, and YOU can do the same. You don’t need to bring more money to the closing table or know the ins and outs of new construction. This is a strategy any rookie can follow, as long as you surround yourself with the right people! In this episode, Leka will share everything you need to know to transform regular lots and single-family homes into income-producing goldmines. You’ll learn how to identify the right markets, lots, and properties for this strategy, and how to work with your local city or county to get your new build underway. But that’s not all. Leka will even show you the easiest type of ADU any rookie investor can build and some critical mistakes to avoid! Unlock the hidden potential in every property with Leka’s guide to maximizing your real estate portfolio, Return on Real Estate! n This Episode We Cover How to transform single-family homes into high-cash-flow properties with DADUs The easiest type of ADU conversion project any rookie investor can take on Lot types to target when planning your first DADU (and which ones to avoid) Creative financing strategies to fund your purchase and DADU construction The biggest mistakes that derail new investors (and how to avoid them!) Key team members you need to streamline permitting, design, and construction And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-591 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Real Estate Rookie podcast, the show where we help you go from real estate beginner to confident investor.
0:07.3	One actionable step at a time.
0:14.1	I'm Ashley Care.
0:15.5	And I'm Tony J. Robinson.
0:16.8	And today's episode is all about a strategy that's getting a lot of attention right now, building a dadu or a detached accessory dwelling unit and how you as a rookie can actually find the right lot and get started.
0:29.3	We know so many rookies get stuck wondering if their first deal is big enough or worth it. And a dadu can be a creative way to add more income and long-term value to a single property. And that's what we're excited for today's guest. Someone who's not only built several of these, but has made it her mission to teach others how to do it to you. Let's give a big warm welcome to our friend and guest, Lika Davetha. Lika, thanks to joining us today. Super happy to have you. Tony, Ashley, thank you for having me.
0:55.4	It is always just so fun to hang out with you guys.
0:59.2	Podcast or not, I just love seeing you too.
1:03.1	Well, we're glad this time we're having you back to talk about something other than squatters
1:08.8	in your property.
1:09.8	And if you guys did not listen to that episode,
1:12.1	need to go back into the catalog to find Lika's episode
1:15.3	where she tells us her squatter horror story.
1:19.0	But today, Lika, we're going to be talking about a dadu.
1:21.9	So what does a dad do and what does DADU even stand for?
1:26.6	Yeah, so dados are basically detached accessory dwelling units.
1:32.4	And if you haven't heard of it, I highly encourage just Googling the term or going on the
1:37.8	Bigger Pocket forums and checking it out because there's so much information.
1:42.5	They could be either attached ADUs or DADUs, which are just
1:47.9	detached dwelling units. So think backyard cottages, like above garage units, attic renovations,
1:57.3	because those are all ADUs, additions on properties, basement conversions.
2:04.2	There's a whole plethora of properties that qualify as ADUs and dadus.
	...

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