looking into building a duplex

[Chris Egan]

Hi BP,

I am exploring the idea of building a duplex. I would like to connect with some other investors that have done similar projects in their local market. Just looking for what others have experienced when doing this type of build. I am looking into building something simple side by side identical units 2 bed 1 bath 1 car garage around 900 square foot each. Any advice or input is much appreciated. 

[Shawn French]

Hey Chris,

I’m really interested to see how this materializes for you. I’ve had similar thoughts and would love to learn from your experience.

When you mentioned “side-by-side”, I thought of a warning from @Brandon Turner that might be relevant here. On page 189-190 of “The Book on Rental Property Investing”, he specifies that there are only three problems he avoids when considering a rental property:

(1) a bad neighborhood

(2) foundation issues

(3) SHARED DRIVEWAYS

The one that I think is relevant for you is #3, SHARED DRIVEWAYS. Since you’re the one creating this duplex from the ground up, being aware of this potential problem from the start might save you a headache in the future.

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Here’s what he says about shared driveways (quoted from page 189-190 of “The Book on Rental Property Investing”):

“I once bought a nice house in a nice area that shared a driveway with a neighbor’s house. Literally, the two houses were 20 feet apart with the driveway in between, split evenly down the middle into “their side” and “my side.” When I bought the house, I didn’t see any issues with this situation, but within a few months I learned a terrible truth: the neighbor was a driveway hoarder.

"He started to pile up garbage, boats, engines, tires, and everything else you could imagine in the driveway. Although he was polite enough to keep his junk on his side of the shared driveway, it made my property look incredibly bad, and we had a terrible time trying to rent or sell it. The junk in the neighbor’s driveway reduced the value of my property by 20%, and there was nothing I could do about it. Now I don’t buy properties where the neighbor could so easily affect my bottom line.”

This information is duplicated in the following BP article:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/3-problems-avoid-shopping-rental-property/

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Are you looking to build this duplex in Omaha?

Hope this helps,

Shawn