Grandma’s House- Renovate or Tear down and Develop

[Canesha Edwards]

Hello BP community,

My grandmother and her siblings own a home and plot of land in Newnan, GA. The home is currently rented, but needless to say, the tenants haven’t taken care of the property. So, my initial thought was to buy the property from my family, Reno, and rent.

However, I started looking into the city’s comprehensive plan and my grandmother’s property is zoned for med density residential along with the surrounding area. The property is also located close to a major road way in the city where the surrounding area has a new zoning classification of high density commercial. The property is located in a good school system and close to downtown.

I’ve spoke with the local planning department and rezoning could be an option, but i would need to acquire more land in the area for the rezoning to make sense . I’m looking to rezone to a higher density residential zoning classification that would allow for small multi family.

My question is, how would one go about getting multiple properties under contract and keeping them under contract until the entitlement process is complete for the sake of rezoning? Would there be separate contracts for each property ?

I also considered taking a one off approach and acquiring individual properties, Reno, and renting. However, the development side of things is really the route I want to take. This side of town is lacking in residential development and I believe there’s a real opportunity here.

I’m looking for insight and solution, best practices, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Canesha

[John Teachout]

Well, I would assess the property to see what it would take to get it rentable. Assuming that's somewhere in the $10k range, it would make sense to me to fix the property, place a tenant and then see what you can do to acquire more of the "neighborhood". This could be a time consuming prospect taking some years. In the meantime, grandma's house is generating revenue and still available for a future "highest and best use" action. Is that part of Newnan likely to expand enough to make a property grouping worth developing?