How Cottage Developments Work in Boise (And Why They're the Most Underrated Infill Play Right Now)
Cottage developments are, in my opinion, the most underrated infill product in Boise right now. They're detached, single-family homes that we project can sell for under $400,000 in most neighborhoods. That's a price point where there's almost no new construction in the Treasure Valley, and very little in the existing single-family market either.
Most investors, and even a lot of builders, don't have their eyes on cottages yet. So in this post, I'm going to walk you through exactly how a cottage development works in Boise, how it compares to a typical subdivision, and where it saves you time and money. Then I'll show you a real deal we're underwriting right now so you can see the math behind it.
What is a cottage development?
A cottage development is a group of small, detached single-family homes on a condominium plat. Boise codified cottage developments when it rewrote its zoning code in 2023.
Because it's a condo plat, the buyer doesn't get their own subdivided lot. Here's what they actually own:
Their house and garage. The buildings are theirs.
A share of the land. On a 26-unit parcel, each owner holds a 1/26 share of the whole property.
Private yard space. The condo plat can set aside a private backyard, side yard, and front area for each home, even though the owner doesn't hold title to that dirt.
Access to common space. Roads, green space, and shared areas are spelled out on the plat and in the HOA docs.
So from the buyer's point of view, it lives like a single-family home. It's detached, it has its own yard, and there are no shared walls. From the developer's point of view, it's a far more efficient way to get density on an infill site.
Entitlements: skipping the public hearings
The biggest difference starts at entitlements. A cottage development in Boise goes through an administrative design review instead of the full public hearing process.
Here's how the cottage process works:
Prepare the application. That means a survey, preliminary civil plans, home plans, and a landscape plan. Pulling that together with engineers and designers usually takes a couple of months.
Initial city review. Once the application passes the city's initial checks, staff reviews it, usually for about 30 days.
Conditions of approval. Within 30 to 60 days, the city issues a multi-page list of conditions from every agency. As long as you're following code, the project gets approved at this point.
Civil plan review. You finalize the plans to meet those conditions and submit to Public Works, the drainage reviewers, ACHD, and the other agencies. Expect redlines, corrections, and a resubmittal. Best case that's about 90 days, but more than likely it's four to six months.
On a typical subdivision, step 3 doesn't end with an approval. Staff sends a recommendation to the Planning and Zoning Commission, and you wait about a month for that hearing. Then you wait about another month for City Council. That adds roughly three months before you can even submit civil plans.
All in, a cottage development usually gets to stamped civil plans in about 9 to 12 months. A typical subdivision takes about 12 to 15 months.
"Approved" is not the same as "fully entitled"
If you're shopping for development deals, this one matters. An approved project has cleared that first step: the city has said yes to what you want to build. A fully entitled project also has approved, stamped civil construction plans. Fully entitled means you can break ground the next day.
There's real time and money between those two stages. So if a listing says "fully entitled," verify that it actually is, and if it's only approved, underwrite the extra cost and months to get to shovel-ready.
Horizontal development: no six-month dead zone
Horizontal development is basically everything at ground level and below: roads, sidewalks, sewer, water, gas, power, and things like streetlights and fire hydrants. Cottages still need all of that, but they handle it in a very different way.
On a typical subdivision, you build all the infrastructure first. Then the city inspects it. Only after that can you get the final plat signed, which takes at least three months and usually closer to six. During that time, nothing is happening on site. The project just sits there while you carry the costs.
On a cottage development, there are no individual lots to plat. Once the foundations are poured, you can start routing the condo plat while horizontal construction is still underway. That means the plat can be signed long before vertical construction wraps up, and you're ready to sell without that six-month wait.
Cottages also simply need less public infrastructure. In a subdivision, every lot has to front a public road and meet a minimum lot size, and you need public sewer, water, and sidewalks in front of every home. Those rules usually cost you 15% to 20% of your total units. On a cottage condo plat, most of that infrastructure is private. It still gets scrutinized, just differently.
Vertical construction: smaller homes, faster builds
Cottages are smaller, so every trade moves faster. An electrical crew can be in and out of a cottage in a day or two instead of several days. Framing might take two or three days instead of a week. And when you frame a bunch of them at once, that efficiency compounds.
Start to finish, an individual cottage can be built in about 5 to 6 months, compared to 6 to 8 months for a typical subdivision home. In theory, you can even start vertical while horizontal is still going, although logistically you'll probably want the roads in first.
Here's how the timelines stack up:
| Phase | Typical subdivision | Cottage development |
|---|---|---|
| Approval | Staff review, P&Z hearing, City Council | Administrative design review (about 3 months faster) |
| Stamped civil plans | About 12 to 15 months | About 9 to 12 months |
| Final plat | Signed 3 to 6 months after horizontal is done | Signed while construction is still underway |
| Build time per home | 6 to 8 months | 5 to 6 months |
A typical subdivision, done in one phase, usually runs about three years. A cottage development cuts roughly three months on the front end and at least six months in the middle, before you even count the faster builds.
The exit: what you need to know before you sell
Before any cottage closes, it needs a certificate of occupancy, which means passing all of the city's building inspections. On our builds, we also hire third-party inspectors at rough-in, after drywall, after finishes, and at final. That gives the end buyer a documented record of every issue found and how it was fixed.
Make the condos warrantable
Because cottages sit on a condo plat, FHA and VA lenders underwrite them differently. To lend with minimum down payments, the condo project has to be warrantable. Two of the big requirements:
No single owner can hold more than about 10% of the units. On a 40-unit project, that's four units max.
No pending lawsuits involving the association.
Non-warrantable condos can still be financed, but buyers typically need at least 10% down, and often 20% or more. That shrinks your buyer pool fast. So we set up the HOA documents and the underwriting on the front end to keep the project warrantable.
Keep HOA dues low
With enough units, HOA dues can stay low. On a project this size, around $50 a month could likely cover yard maintenance for the common areas and front yards. You can also have the HOA handle exteriors and roofs, but then you need to price that in and fund a reserve. More than likely, I'd have the HOA cover yards and leave building maintenance to each owner.
Sell or hold?
As the owner, you can sell every unit or keep them as rentals. Holding is a bit like owning an apartment complex made of detached homes. What I will say is that with today's interest rates, rents usually don't support the construction cost and refinance. So most of the time, these pencil much better as for-sale homes.
A real example: 2 houses, 3.3 acres, 38 cottages
Here's what this looks like on a real deal we're underwriting. It's two side-by-side properties on Victory Road in Boise, totaling about 3.3 acres, with an existing home on each.
| Smaller parcel | Larger parcel | |
|---|---|---|
| Asking price | $550,000 | $1,050,000 |
| Existing home | About 2,150 sq ft, 4 bed, turnkey | About 3,400 sq ft, 5 bed, full gut remodel |
| New cottages | 13 | 25 |
| Garages | One-car garage plus a parking space | Two-car garage per cottage |
The city only requires one parking space per unit. Because the site sits on a busy road where you can't really park on the street, we designed for two spaces per unit. Every cottage also gets private backyard space, at least 15 feet on many of them, plus guest parking and shared open space.
The strategy: keep the existing homes
Most developers would tear both houses down. Instead, we keep both homes through entitlements. Once the property is re-platted, each home can be sold. We project that returns about $100,000 of capital from the smaller home and about $160,000 from the larger one, while also paying down debt before vertical construction.
The larger home is worth renovating for the same reason. It costs about the same as building a new cottage, but it could resell for close to $700,000 instead of under $400,000.
The projected numbers
Total purchase price: $1.575 million
Projected investor cash: about $980,000, spread over the entitlement period rather than all up front
Projected profit: $1.2 million or more
Projected equity multiple: 2.22x
Projected annualized return: about 59.5%
Projected timeline: about 2 to 2.5 years
The construction lender typically finances the vertical construction, including an interest reserve. So most of your cash goes into the down payments, entitlements, and holding costs.
Why these numbers are the floor, not the ceiling
We underwrote the two parcels as if they were two separate deals. We didn't factor in the economies of scale of doing them together:
Entitlements: each parcel has a cost floor, so doing both at once costs a lot less per unit.
Horizontal: one larger site development is cheaper per unit than two smaller ones.
Vertical: a 38-unit project gives us leverage to negotiate better pricing with some of our subs.
Interest: with rolling starts, you can pay down debt as units sell and cut your carrying costs.
There's likely room on price, too. The larger parcel has a long market history and is priced at a premium over the value of the house. One parcel still needs to be annexed and rezoned, so we'd structure the purchase to close after that's done to take that risk off the table.
You also don't have to buy both. The smaller parcel on its own projects a little over $500,000 in profit on about $238,000 of investor cash, with a similar IRR.
The bottom line on cottages
Cottages give you density without cramming a site, a faster path through entitlements, no dead time waiting on a plat, quicker builds, and a finished product at a price point the market is starving for. That's why I think they're one of the best infill opportunities in Boise right now.
On our deals, you own the property and make the big decisions. You hire us for due diligence, entitlements, horizontal development, and vertical construction. And if the deal beats our conservative projections, you keep the upside.
Want to see more deals like this? Join the Find Your Next Six-Figure Infill Deal call live every Friday at 2pm MT, or catch the replay on our YouTube channel. If you're interested in this deal or one like it, reach out through the links on our site or send me a message on social.
What is a cottage development in Boise?
A cottage development is a group of small, detached single-family homes on a condominium plat. Boise codified cottage developments in its 2023 zoning code rewrite. Buyers own their home and garage, a share of the land, and private yard space set aside on the plat.
How long does it take to entitle a cottage development in Boise?
A cottage development typically reaches stamped civil plans in about 9 to 12 months, compared to 12 to 15 months for a typical subdivision. That's because cottages go through administrative design review instead of Planning and Zoning and City Council public hearings.
Why are cottage developments faster than subdivisions?
Cottages skip about three months of public hearings, the condo plat can be signed while construction is still underway instead of after, and smaller homes take about 5 to 6 months to build instead of 6 to 8.
Can buyers use FHA or VA loans on a cottage home?
Yes, if the condo project is warrantable. That generally means no single owner holds more than about 10% of the units and there are no pending lawsuits. Non-warrantable condos usually require 10% to 20% or more down.
What's the difference between an approved and a fully entitled project?
An approved project has city approval for what you want to build. A fully entitled project also has approved, stamped civil construction plans, so you can break ground the next day.
All figures are projections based on current assumptions and are not guarantees of future results.
