About CoDADU
Guiding California Homeowners Through AB 1033
A New Chapter for ADUs
For years, detached ADUs helped California families create flexibility — space for aging parents, rental income, a way to stay rooted in a neighborhood they love.
But they’ve always had a ceiling. No matter how much value a DADU added to a property, it couldn’t stand on its own. It was an extension of the main home — never an independently owned asset.
AB 1033 removed that ceiling.
Now, in cities across California, a detached ADU can become its own independently owned home. That changes what it’s worth. It changes what you can do with it. For many homeowners, it changes the financial picture entirely.
Getting there is technical — coordination across municipal rules, subdivision law, survey mapping, lender consent, and compliance standards.
That’s the work CoDADU was built to handle.
We focus exclusively on detached ADU condominium separations. One process. Done well.
Leadership
CoDADU is led by Max Nelson, a California real estate strategist who has been embedded in the state’s ADU movement since before most homeowners knew what a DADU was.
Max spent years working inside two of California’s leading ADU companies — Abodu and Samara — working directly with homeowners on feasibility, site planning, and the practical realities of building a backyard home. He’s guided hundreds of California homeowners through complex, high-stakes decisions about their properties. He understands this space not just technically, but personally — the questions homeowners ask, the concerns they carry, and what it actually takes to move a project forward with confidence.
When AB 1033 passed, something clicked.
The detached ADU — a structure he’d spent years helping homeowners plan and build — had entered an entirely new legal category. It could now be separated. Sold. Treated as its own independently owned home. That wasn’t just a policy change. It was a fundamental shift in what a backyard home could mean for a family’s financial future.
CoDADU was built around that shift. One process, one legislative framework, done well — with the kind of homeowner-first guidance that Max has always believed this space deserves.
What We Do
This is work most real estate professionals don’t touch. We built our entire practice around it.
CoDADU offers two services — designed to work together.
The Condo Conversion Kit
Our flagship service. We manage the complete legal separation of your DADU — from site visit and surveying through condominium mapping, lender coordination, legal structuring, permits, and city approvals.
Every professional is coordinated. Every step is sequenced.
You end up with a DADU that has its own title, its own legal standing, and its own future.
No sale required. Many homeowners use the Kit for estate planning, long-term flexibility, or simply to understand the value of their property as a standalone asset.
Listing and Sale
For homeowners ready to sell, we take it all the way.
Once your DADU is legally separated, we handle positioning, photography, listing, negotiation, and sale — with the deep property knowledge that comes from having managed the conversion ourselves.
There’s no pressure to decide upfront. For many homeowners, that conversation happens naturally once the Kit is complete and you can clearly see what you have.
What makes CoDADU different
CoDADU was built from scratch, specifically for this — and only this. One law. One process. One team that knows it inside and out.
BUILT FROM THE INSIDE
Max spent years inside California’s ADU industry before AB 1033 existed. That foundation is what this work stands on.
ONE KIT. EVERY STEP.
Our Condo Conversion Kit is one of a kind — a structured, managed process that takes your DADU from property to independently titled home, without a gap in the chain.
CLARITY BEFORE COMMITMENT
Before anything moves forward, we determine viability. Before contracts. Before coordination. Before any investment of your time or money.
OWNER OF RECORD
One team owns the outcome from start to close. Every professional coordinated. Every step sequenced. No gaps between us and the result.
What we’re here for
This isn’t just paperwork. It’s your property, your equity, and your family’s future. We built CoDADU around that reality.
One conversation. Real clarity.
A structured review of your property and what’s realistically possible.
Licensed real estate services are provided by Max Nelson under eXp Realty of Northern California.
DRE #02139786
Brokerage DRE #02188495