Does this city have many multifamily buildings?

Question

Hi all,

I am looking to move to a new city to do my first house hack and start my real estate journey. I am trying to find out if a city is allowing or disallowing future builds/permits for multifamily buildings. I do not want to move to a city and learn that a city is not fond of multifamily buildings.

Also, if you have any tips that I could look for related to legal issues, that would be helpful as well.

Happy Holidays and thanks!

Cameron Braig · Answer

Congrats on getting started and welcome to the forum.

Mike Wood · Answer

@Trevor Bond  Since I know that zoning drives what can be developed, the simple answer is yes.  Zoning is one of the first things I look at when investigating a property.  In my city, if the property is not zoned for what I want to do (typically 2 family dwellings), its a waste of time to consider it, as changing the zoning is almost impossible for me.  I suspect the same in other cities.  I assume that you are thinking about purchasing a SFH with the possibility of adding a unit to the property. This is something that your city should have well defined and published.

Trevor Bond · Answer

@Mike Wood Thank you for your insight that was very helpful. Have you came across many zoning issues over your the time you have been investing?

Mike Wood · Answer

@Trevor Bond you just have to research what the zoning is for each city your interested in.  Even in cities that have areas that are zoned only SFH's, they typically have areas for commercial and multifamily. Some high cost areas are changing zoning for ADU's to add density to previously zoned SFH areas.

You can typically find zoning on your city's website or by calling the zoning department.

Trevor Bond · Answer

@Marcus Auerbach Thank you for your help and Merry Christmas!

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

@Trevor Bond there is push back in many municipalities for new MF - its the: yes sure, but not in my backyard.

Milwaukee has 66,000 duplexes, most from 1920 and 1960 - as far as I know that's the most of the US. You can look it up.on YouTube.