Converting Old Barn into Apartments

[Marcus Hendren]

I recently bought two lots, one holds my personal residence and the other is an adjacent lot. I am located on in the heart of a small town about 20 min Northeast of Columbus, Ohio. The adjacent lot has a historic timber framed barn in good condition. Both lots are zoned residential. The barn is about 60 x 40 with a big hay mow and concrete basement where the cows used to be milked and fed. I have had the barn up for sale on craigslist for some time and it seems most of the offers range between $0 and $1,000. I think it would be a shame to see the barn slowly rot over time or get rid of it for next to nothing, but I also don't want to shell out $10k to repair the roof just to look at it. Does anyone have any insight on the process of converting the barn into two or three apartment units? How difficult would the permit process be? Any projections on how expensive the project would be?