Building Ship Container Duplex/Triplex or 4Plexes

[Brandon Miller]

The idea would be to find a lot or lots to build on and rent the units out , maybe even house hack. My wife brought up this idea to me the other day and it intrigued me since I've been interested in container homes for a while now and being a metal worker/welder I have the ability to do cutting and welding on the units.  Has anyone here ever tried this? What financing would be available for something like this? Would zoning be an issue? Thanks!    

[Mark Mathews]

It's an interesting concept. For zoning, best to get information from your local zoning board. Most populated areas will have a development plan and are not likely to include container buildings. My guess is you'll have to look to rural areas.

For financing, I'd suggest finding a rural lot, with appropriate zoning laws, and owner financing; maybe on an all inclusive trust deed (AITD). There should be plenty people willing to sell their vacant land, since most likely they bought it as an investment hoping to make a lot of money only to find out that it's hardly worth what they paid for it several years ago.

Another way to find vacant land is tax auctions. People who bought vacant land, and gave up on it and stopped even paying the tax. The county sells it at auction, starting price is the back taxes owed.