Flipping vacant residential lot -- What do I need?

Question

I'm under contract for an REO residential lot that used to have a SFH on it. Apparently, the house was hit by a car and compromised its integrity so it was demolished.

I'm looking at simply flipping the land and was wondering what I should have done before listing it. A survey? If so, what kind?

The property is 14,000 sq/ft with sewer & utilities at the street surrounded by very similar lots & houses in the neighborhood. No big surprises, I don't think, being that there was a house there not too long ago. I just want to get my ducks in a row for resale.

Dale Thomas · Answer

Disclaimer: I do the following all the time in Arkansas and have not run into any problems yet. Following this advice may not be suitable in your area.

I would save the cost of getting a real survey if possible. I like to get a copy of the subdivision plat to use for marketing plus you can use it to help find the property corners. In Arkansas plats are filed at the courthouse. I'm not sure about PA.

The real estate company I work closely with keeps a "pin finder" at their office and they let me borrow it when searching for property corners. It's basically a glorified metal detector with the specific purpose of finding iron pins in the ground. If you don't have one at your office or have one you can borrow it might be a good investment to get yourself one if you plan on selling a lot of tracts of land.

Another method of finding property corners is to ask the neighbors where they are. A lot of times they will know and can take you right to them. PLUS, the neighbors are one of the best prospects to buy the property you are selling and this will be a good way to make contact with them.

Once you find the property corners, try to get a good measurement between the corners and see if they are very close to what is on the plat. If they are and the neighbors agree that it is the right location you could save yourself some money. If they are not real close, then hire a surveyor. He might even give you a discount for finding some of the pins in the area.

If you do not feel comfortable finding your own pins than you can always wait to see if the buyer wants it done and have it written into the offer.

Again, maybe it's not the best advice for your area but it's worked for me.

Dale

Mark Beekman · Answer

Hi, Kyle. All the houses in the neighborhood are single family homes. I'm hoping you're right.

The previous owner died, the house was left vacant for years, and was foreclosed on, and demolished by the Township (not necessarily in that order). I don't think the owner rescinded usage.

Mark Gallagher · Answer

@Mark Beekman

It's zoned R2 and can build a single family there. Can see all the building requirements here: http://www.uppermac.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06...

A .33 AC lot in UMT just sold for $71,000

Good luck.

Kyle Kingma · Answer

Sounds like that "land use" is just for taxing purposes, not allowable land uses under R2. R2 typically refers to two-family residential. You'll want to check if they city has pyramid zoning which would allow single-family in R-2 as well as duplex. Are the other homes in the area single-family?

Carolyn Morales · Answer

It seems like it should still be a residential lot. I wonder if the prior owner resended the usage to get a tax break, if that is possible. Maybe it is easily fixable.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

You need to talk to the local planning and zoning.

Mark Beekman · Answer

Thanks, @Wayne Brooks. The same manholes are on every lot in the neighborhood in the front by the street.

I guess I made a rookie no-no and assumed the land use to be vacant residential, although I could've sworn that when I first checked there was no mention of the word "farm". I think the zoning of R2 threw me off. I suppose  I'll have to see if I can get this changed via a Planning Commission meeting? Or, is it no biggie and I can just resell under it's current use? Remember, I'm looking to flip the lot, but getting top dollar is always nice :)

Wayne Brooks · Answer

@Mark Beekman You certainly need know the allowed uses, what you can build along with any other requirements, set backs, etc. The man holes, are they near the front, or rear? Sounds like you have an easement there, you need to know where and how big it is.

Mark Beekman · Answer

@Dale Thomas I thought you may be able to shed some light on this:

The property is zoned R2, but the land use now says "Farm: Vac Agr". I'm thinking that after the Township had the house demolished, they changed the land use. Are we talking about a big problem or minor problem here if I'm going to be marketing it to builders? Do you think this is something that a Township meeting can resolve?

Mark Beekman · Answer

Thanks again to @Dale Thomas & @Jay Hinrichs.

One quick, very basic follow up question:

The property has what looks like two manhole covers on it. One is labeled "Bell Atlantic" for what I assume is for telephone utility and the other is labeled PP&L (the local power company). The property has 140ft of road frontage and also had sewer service to the house that was torn down. So, would this property be deemed improved, or unimproved for marketing purposes?

Flipping vacant residential lot -- What do I need?

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