ADU financing and grants
How people pay for an ADU: HELOCs, construction loans, cash-out refinancing, and the grant programs that come and go.
How the build gets paid for. The loan products people actually use and how they differ, the appraisal gap that decides how much of the value you can borrow against, and the grant programs, which open, run out and pause more often than anything else on this site.
Start here: What an ADU costs in Los Angeles
5 posts on adu financing and grants
LA County Has $3.8M for Eaton Fire ADUs. Demand Already Outran It.
Los Angeles County set aside $3.8 million to help Eaton Fire survivors build backyard ADUs, enough for 35 to 50 households. Applications for grants of up to $100,000 are now open, but the program's partner had already paused its own ADU intake over demand.
July 11, 2026
Cash-Out Refi for a Brooklyn Brownstone ADU: What the Appraisal Gap Means for You
Before you tap your brownstone's equity to build an ADU, understand why appraisers struggle to value ADU potential in NYC, and what your real financing options are.
June 29, 2026
NY State Plus One ADU Program: Grants Up to $175K, Explained
New York State's Plus One ADU program offers grants up to $175,000 for NYC homeowners and $125,000 elsewhere to build or legalize a unit, administered through income-eligible local partner intake.
June 20, 2026
HELOC vs. Construction Loan vs. Cash-Out Refi for Your California ADU
California homeowners financing an ADU build in 2026 have three main options: HELOC, cash-out refi, or construction loan. By our rough estimate, rates ran 6.25 to 9 percent in mid-2026. Here is the decision tree to find the right fit.
June 13, 2026
CalHFA's ADU Grant: What the $40,000 Covers and Why It's Paused
CalHFA's $40,000 ADU grant covers pre-development costs like permits, engineering, and impact fees, not construction. Its last round was fully allocated in December 2023, and it is not accepting new applications.
June 2, 2026