Published August 8, 2014

What Kinds of Home Additions Are Allowed? | Fridays with Fred

Written by Fred Sed

What Kinds of Home Additions Are Allowed? | Fridays with Fred header image.

Over the years we’ve helped many homebuyers in Orange County search for homes and during the process of a typical home search they’ve asked us this question: “can I do an addition on that home?” and the answer we always give our clients is yes, but.

In today’s post we will cover the basics of doing an addition on a home in Orange County or elsewhere in the United States so you can be better prepared for this exciting process of owning a home.

What If The Home Is A Condo?

Condominiums are almost always hard to do additions on because they are attached to another home and the city or homeowners association will most likely not approve the addition.

Although a condo is attached to another condo, that doesn’t mean that you can’t knock down a wall inside your condo to create an open floor plan or more space but you will have to still obtain the approval of the HOA before doing that renovation.

Additions to Detached Homes

Purchasing a detached home is another story especially if that detached home was built between the 1950’s and 1980’s. An older home will most likely not be part of a Home Owners Association and that means you will have more freedom to make decisions about building an addition to your home. Even though your home may not be part of an HOA you will still have to obtain the approval of the city first because you want to make sure that your home addition is a permitted addition. If you build an addition without obtaining the necessary permits first you will not be able to include that square footage as part of your home when you sell it and this means you will not be able to get a return on the investment you put into your home. Plus, an unpermitted addition may make it more difficult to sell the home since buyers won’t know the quality of the work and may move on to something that is within code.