Multifamily(?) turned into a single family but listed as Multi

[Jeremy Mortimore]

I put an offer on a home that was previously a multifamily home in Providence RI. Every home within several blocks in multifamily, not a single family home in sight.

I put an offer in and after some back and forth, get an accepted offer. Listed at $325, offer accepted at $321 with seller crediting $7K for closing. Everything in the area is going for well over asking, so I was pleased with this.

However, the owners had a large family and converted the 2 family into a single family home. This means that to restore it back, there needs to be some walls put up where they were taken down; but nothing huge I am thinking. That said, the upstairs kitchen was turned into a bedroom, so it would take some money to recreate the kitchen. However, we are looking to have roommates and use the shared kitchen until this can be done down the road.

I just learned that they went to city hall and had it reclassified as a single family home to save on taxes. My fear is that for some reason it won't be reclassified back as a multifamily, or that during the assessment it will uncover some other thing requiring costly improvements.

That said, EVERY house in the neighborhood is a multifamily, qnd my realtor indicates that this is a simple process, and not fraught with risks.

Has anyone had experience in this realm? Is there a high risk that qfter putting the kitchen back on the second floor it will not be reclassified?