Residential lot, two homes on it, looking to tear down and rebuild front house

[Matthew Komblevicz]

I have a property in south Texas that has two homes on it. I would like to tear down and rebuild the front house and rent it out I already confirmed with the city that the zoning is ok for the rebuild. Where do I begin? Architect, lender, builder? I will need to finance the build. I still owe $80k on the property, the city has it valued at $120k. The rear house has all of the value as it is a 1300 square ft home from the 70s; the front house is 580 sq ft built in 1952. I want to replace it with a small 2 bedroom 800 sq ft house. I have $30k to put into the project.

[Ben Trageser]

I would start by talking to a lender who deals with construction loans. A lot of loans require that you already own the land outright before they will provide funding but there are tons of different options.

Once you have the funding piece figured out, I would discuss with a builder and try to price it out. They will most likely be able to give you a rough cost per square foot. Then work with an architect for design.