Live Kearns listings, filtered
Homes with an ADU or casita in Kearns.
Kearns listings with an accessory dwelling unit, whether that is a basement apartment, a detached casita, or an attached mother-in-law suite, fed straight from the MLS and sorted newest first, with a clear read on what makes one legal here and what to verify before you write an offer.
This page's filter
- Filter
- ADU, casita, or mother-in-law
- Area
- Kearns, UT
- Sort
- Newest first
- Feed
- Local MLS, live
Want it narrower? Tell me your exact spec.
Newest first
The newest ADU and casita listings.
Fed straight from the local MLS and filtered to homes that note an accessory dwelling unit, whether that is a basement apartment, a detached casita, or an attached mother-in-law suite. New Kearns listings appear here as they list, and sold homes drop off. The read on what makes one legal is just below.
Buying here
Sort permitted from simply finished before you tour.
A second kitchen and a side door do not make a basement apartment a legal unit on their own, so the question that matters is whether the space is permitted and has proper egress for that parcel's zoning. Tell me what setup you are after and I will have the Kearns-area partner agent I work with pull the permit history on any home you flag.
Selling here
Own a Kearns home with a documented accessory unit?
Buyers reading this page want a basement apartment or attached suite with the paperwork behind it, not just a finished lower level. List it with the Kearns-area partner agent I connect you with and it lands in front of that specific search.
Listing information comes from the local MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
The local read
What an accessory dwelling really means in Kearns.
An accessory dwelling is a property feature, not a promise. On a Kearns listing it means a secondary living space that can function on its own: a second kitchen, its own bathroom, a separate exterior entrance, and sometimes a separate utility meter. The words move around. A basement apartment is a lower level built out that way, a casita is usually a detached unit set apart from the house, and a mother-in-law suite is usually an attached apartment on the main or upper floor. The search shows up across the Salt Lake Valley for two honest reasons, multigenerational living under one roof and a separate suite where the unit is legal, and both turn on the same homework, which is whether the space is actually permitted.
Kearns is unusual ground for this search, and the form it takes here is almost always the basement apartment. The city is one continuous grid of 1950s-through-1970s post-war tract built in one concentrated wave over the old Kearns Army Air Base footprint, and almost all of it sits over a full basement on flat valley-floor ground. The hub flags those finished basements over and over as effectively doubling the living space of the main floor, and Kearns households run 3.4 persons, the largest on any city hub on this site, so these homes were built to hold a lot of life per square foot. Adding a second kitchen and a private entrance to a full basement like that is exactly the conversion most of these listings describe, and the split-level wave through the middle and west of the grid gives some lower levels a natural grade-level door. Because the ground is flat, a true daylight or walkout lower level is the exception rather than the rule, and a fully detached casita is rarer still on these compact postwar lots, so treat one as a find rather than an expectation.
Here is the part that matters more than the photos. A finished basement is not the same as a legal apartment, and neither is a converted room over the garage or a guest space out back. A second kitchen and an outside door do not make a unit conforming on their own, and in a one-vintage market this old a great many existing accessory spaces were finished over the years without permits or were built before today's rules. That is not a reason to walk away, but it is the reason to verify rather than assume. Two questions decide everything: whether the unit is permitted with the local jurisdiction that handles Kearns permitting and whether it has its own legal egress, meaning a code-sized window well or door out of every sleeping room below grade. What an accessory dwelling is allowed to be on a given property depends on that parcel's zoning, so the answer is property-specific, not citywide.
Treat any income angle with the same caution. I will not quote you a rent number or a payment number on a page like this, because what a unit could earn depends on its legal status, the specific space, and rules that change, and a non-conforming unit cannot be counted on at all. What I can do is point you at the right stock. If a true separate space is the goal, the older-core ramblers are the natural hunting ground, so the single-story page is a useful next stop. If you only want the extra square footage and not a second kitchen, the homes with a basement page is the wider search, and the no-HOA page points at the older established lots where a side-yard entrance has the most room to work. Earlier in the process than show me listings? Start with the Kearns guide, and when a home below reads right, that is the moment to reach out.
What counts as an accessory dwelling
-
The form it takes: in Kearns almost all of these are basement apartments, since a full basement is near-universal on this postwar stock. An attached mother-in-law suite turns up now and then, and on the flat, compact lots a detached casita is rare, so read the listing for where the space actually sits.
-
Second kitchen: a full or kitchenette setup is the core marker. A finished basement or a spare suite with no kitchen is just extra space, not a separate unit, so read the listing for the actual layout.
-
Separate entrance: the second front door this search is really about. A private exterior entry, often a walk-down or a side door, is what makes the space usable as its own unit rather than a through-the-house extension.
-
Separate egress: every sleeping room below grade needs a code-sized window well or a door to the outside. This is a safety item and a legality item at once, and it is the first thing to confirm in person.
-
Separate utilities: some units have their own gas or electric meter, or at least split HVAC. It is a convenience, not proof of legality, so note it but do not read it as a permit.
The local map
Where the accessory units actually are.
Homes with a second living space turn up across the Kearns grid, but the forms concentrate in a few patterns, and the basement apartment is by far the dominant one. Here is where to look, and the due-diligence note attached to each.
The postwar core, central and north
The original grid platted over the old Camp Kearns footprint, roughly 4700 South to 5400 South, holds the most consistent vintage in the city: 1950s and 60s ramblers and early split-levels over full basements. This is the most likely place to find a real separate space, and also the most likely place to find one finished without a permit, so it is the area where verification matters most.
Split-level and split-entry floor plans
The 1960s-70s split-level wave through the middle and west of the grid is a genuine Kearns signature, and the layout lends itself to a lower level with its own grade-level door. The split design can put a private entrance just a half-flight down, which is why so many conversions started here. Confirm the egress windows on the bedrooms below.
The rare garden-level or walkout
On this flat valley-floor ground the full below-grade basement dominates and a true daylight or walkout lower level is the exception. Where a lot has just enough grade for one, the lower level opens toward daylight with full windows and a real door, and that is the ideal setup for a separate space that lives like its own floor. It is worth watching for, but do not expect it as the norm here.
The west and southwest, toward 6200 South
The later-built sections toward the Mountain View Corridor alignment near 5800 West are generally newer than the core grid. A newer build is more likely to have had its lower level finished with permits, but you still verify it, and the deeper newer basements can make a comfortable second kitchen and a real bedroom downstairs more workable.
Larger established lots with side-yard access
The wider, more mature lots in the older core give a separate entrance room to breathe, with a side yard to reach a walk-down door without cutting through the main house. A lot with that kind of room is also the only place a detached casita or a small guest structure could sit on this compact postwar stock. That access is part of why the older grid suits this search, though you still confirm the parcel's zoning and the unit's permit status.
The east edge, the Bangerter side
Blocks nearest Bangerter Highway and the Taylorsville line carry the same vintage stock over basements, with the trade of highway proximity. Check how a street relates to the highway, the sound walls, and the ramps before you tour, and verify any lower-level unit the same way you would anywhere on the grid.
Before you tour: what to actually check
Is it permitted: ask the listing agent for the permit history and confirm the unit's status with the jurisdiction that handles Kearns permitting. A second kitchen and a side door do not make a unit legal on their own.
Zoning on the parcel: what is allowed depends on the specific parcel's zoning, so confirm the zoning permits a separate or accessory unit at that address rather than assuming it from the neighbor's setup.
Egress on every bedroom: each sleeping room below grade needs a code-sized egress window and well, or a door to the outside. Look at the actual window wells, not just the listing photos.
Conforming vs. existing: many older accessory units are non-conforming, finished before today's rules or without permits. Understand exactly what you are buying and what can and cannot be relied on.
Ceiling height and light: a 1950s or 60s basement can be low. Stand in it. Tall, garden-level, or walkout lower levels live very differently from a short, fully below-grade basement.
Vintage systems: on this older stock the value spread is the updates, so date the roof, furnace, electrical panel, and sewer lateral, and check the wiring and gas for the second kitchen were done to code and inspected.
Want a real accessory dwelling without the guesswork?
Tell me your budget, the part of Kearns you like, whether you want a basement apartment, an attached suite, or the rare detached casita, and whether you need a fully permitted, conforming unit or are open to an existing space you would verify and possibly bring up to code. I will connect you with a trusted Kearns-area partner agent for the on-the-ground work and stay on the file for the homework and the financing. You get a local who knows the streets and a second set of eyes who answers to you, with straight talk about which spaces are legal units and which are just finished basements with a door.
Selling a Kearns home with a basement apartment, an attached accessory suite, or a finished lower level? The buyers reading this page want exactly that. List it with the Kearns-area partner agent I connect you with, and your home gets featured across MovingUtah, on the pages they are already reading.
Quick answers
ADU and casita shopping, answered.
It is a secondary living space that can function on its own, and the listings use several words for it. In Kearns the most common form by far is a basement apartment, a lower level built out with a second kitchen, its own bathroom, and a separate exterior entrance. A casita usually means a detached unit set apart from the main house, and a mother-in-law suite usually means an attached accessory apartment on the main or upper level. All of them are property features describing the space, nothing more. The big thing to know is that a second kitchen and an outside door do not make a unit legal on their own, so the real work is confirming whether it is permitted and conforming with the local jurisdiction that handles Kearns permitting and what the specific parcel's zoning allows.
Some are and some are not, which is exactly why you verify rather than assume. An accessory dwelling has to be permitted to be treated as a separate dwelling, what is allowed depends on the specific parcel's zoning, and many existing basement apartments and converted suites in this 1950s-through-1970s housing were finished over the years without permits or were built before today's rules, so they are non-conforming. That is not a dealbreaker by itself, but you need to know which one you are buying. Confirm the zoning, the permit history, the unit's status, and the egress independently before you rely on it, and I will help line up those checks.
Most often in the postwar core grid, the 1950s and 60s ramblers and early split-levels central and north, which sit over the city's deepest stock of full basements and carry most of the basement apartments, and across the 1960s-70s split-level wave through the middle and west, where a half-flight layout lends itself to a private lower-level entrance. Because the ground is flat, a true daylight or walkout lower level is the exception, and a fully detached casita is rarer still on these compact postwar lots. The live listings above are the honest count on any given week.
Only where the unit is legal, and that is the whole point of the verification. A permitted, conforming accessory dwelling on a parcel zoned to allow it is a different thing from a non-conforming space that happens to have a kitchen, and the rules around accessory dwellings and rentals can change, so this is a question to confirm with the local jurisdiction for the specific property, not to assume from the listing. I will not put a rent figure on a page like this, because it depends entirely on the unit's legal status and the specifics, but I can connect you with a Kearns-area partner agent who will get you straight answers on what is allowed at that address.
Egress is a legal, code-sized way out of every below-grade sleeping room, usually an egress window with a window well sized for a person to climb out, or a door to the outside. It is both a safety requirement and a piece of what makes a basement bedroom or apartment count as legal living space. It matters most on the basement units that make up most of this search, and it is the first thing to confirm in person, because a room marketed as a bedroom downstairs is not really one without it. We check the actual window wells, not just the photos, and on Kearns's older basements we look at ceiling height and light at the same time.
Tell me the budget, the part of the grid, and whether you need a fully permitted suite or are open to an existing space to verify, and I will connect you with a Kearns-area partner agent and flag matching listings as they go live. Pair that with a pre-approval so you can move when the right separate-space home lists, since these are a narrow slice and Kearns is a competitive, affordable market where well-priced homes do not sit long.