Keep the house. Keep the rate.Add the asset.
A second home on the lot you already own — rented, sold as its own condominium unit, or kept for family. A free report on what may be possible on your property, before you spend a dollar on design.
IllustrationFind out what your lot could hold — and what it may earn.
Zoning, setbacks, what is left of the yard, what size fits, an honest cost range, and the local rent and resale data with every figure sourced. No site visit, no obligation, and the report is allowed to say no.
Get my free report →
Give everyone room without anyone moving.
Parents thirty steps away with their own front door. A grown kid's first place that isn't across the state. The same asset, working for the family first and the balance sheet later.
See who does this →Same address. More home. Same rate.
A second address on land you already own
A detached home in the back yard: rented, sold as its own condominium unit, or kept for family. From about 400 to 1,200 sq ft, on the lot and the mortgage rate you already have.
See if it fits →Add the room, not the mortgage
A primary suite, a second story, or an in-law suite off the side. Built onto the house you already love, without trading a sub-4% rate for today's.
See if it fits →The space is already there
A garage becomes an office, a studio, or an attached apartment with its own door. The lowest cost of the three, when the rules and the HOA allow it.
See if it fits →Four steps. Zoning and city rules first, and the first one is free.
You send the address
Two minutes on your phone. We do not need to visit, and nothing is scheduled.
We check zoning and city rules
Your zone, what your city allows above the state floor, setbacks, height and lot coverage — then easements, flood, slope and utilities on the lot itself.
Your report arrives within the hour
Built from public records by our system. If anything on the lot is unclear, a person looks at it first, and we tell you.
You decide what's next
Sometimes a site visit. Sometimes the honest answer is that this lot doesn't work, and the report says so.
What you get, in four pages.
Written to be read once at the kitchen table, not filed. The decision and the recommendation are on page one.
- •Your parcel and zoning, in plain language
- •Setbacks, lot coverage and the buildable area left over
- •Flood, wetland, slope and soil flags that affect cost
- •Which of our designs may fit — backyard home, addition or conversion
- •An estimated cost range, and what drives it up or down
- •What we cannot tell you yet, and what would settle it
See the full four pages on a real Everett lot before you send us your address. We email the PDF; we don't call.
1805 Rucker Ave, Everett
Preliminary estimate from public records. Not a guarantee of approval, buildability, value or final construction cost. A professional review, including a site visit, comes before any scope or price is proposed. Read the whole sample →
What it does to the value. Honestly.
Homes with an accessory unit list about 35% higher
A 2021 national comparison of asking prices in the 500 largest cities. Asking prices, not matched sales, and no Washington figure — directional, not a promise.
Porch, Sept 2021
Nearly half of Seattle's 2022 units were set up as condominiums
44% of accessory units permitted in Seattle in 2022 were condominiums; separately sold units have traded between roughly $750,000 and $1.2 million. State law now permits the sale in most cities.
Seattle OPCD 2023 · HouseHack Seattle 2026
What an appraiser will credit on your property
The added value may not equal the construction cost, and anyone who quotes your resale number from a desk is guessing. If the only reason to build is the resale number, slow down. If you need the space or the income and would rather not move, the arithmetic is different.
This one already got built — and sold.
A 502 square foot one-bedroom backyard home in Bothell — permitted, built by [Builder of record — pending], and sold as its own condominium unit, which is what Washington law now allows on most residential lots. It is the proof that the second home on your lot can be a separate address, not just a spare room.
Is this really free?
Yes, and there is no obligation. A report that says no saves everyone a wasted month, which is why we are happy to write one.
How long does a backyard home take?
Seven to fourteen months from design to move-in, with permitting the least predictable part. Anyone quoting five or six weeks for a site-built detached unit is quoting something else.
What if my lot doesn't work?
Then the report says so, and tells you why. There is often an addition or a garage conversion that does work instead, and the report says which.
Where do you build?
Snohomish County and King County, inside urban growth areas, with most projects in the greater Puget Sound region. If your lot is elsewhere in Washington, ask — a report may still be possible.
Find out what fits on your lot.
One page, two minutes. Your report within the hour.