Middle row tear down.....

[John Gill]

I am a Realtor and I have an investor client who recently purchased a middle row home in Philly. Prior to settlement he talked about maybe digging basement floor down so basement height would make it finishable space. But now he's talking about tearing the whole house down to the foundation and building up and maybe even adding a floor. He asked my opinion and I tried to steer him back towards renovating as the idea of tearing down walls of a building that shared walls with two others homes seemed like a really risky, terrible idea to me. I asked one contractor friend of mine who said "No way" in no uncertain terms - "Tell him no and that's the end of it. Scary thing to do." But this investor seems hellbent on finding some contractor who will tell him "sure it can be done." Am I being too risk-averse here? Should I just leave the contracting advice to the contractors? Seems really risky to me and I'm also not sure the block will command top dollar like some of the new construction "comps" he sent me. The ones he points to are not really the same neighborhood. Does anyone have experience tearing down a middle row? Is this as complicated as I think it is or am I a big baby?

[Sean Pincus]

Definitely have him do some research. I am from Philadelphia and my landlord from a few years back bought a property and decided to tear it down... the city allowed him to do the demolition, but did not let him rebuild because it was no longer a conforming lot. 

It's safe to say that my former landlord now has one expensive parking lot (which he allowed us to use for free).