All Forum Posts by: Mark Beekman

Why don't you think piles to bedrock won't work? Too expensive for this application?

What do you think about a mat foundation?

I'd have to write a book to answer that question. The VERY short version is that I didn't know about the issues, despite attempted due diligence. The Township wouldn't answer my questions and claimed to not have any documentation pertaining to the previous house demo or soil/fill issues. I was then informed by neighbors and threatened legal action and then all of a sudden they "found" records.

It was also so cheap that I couldn't resist.

I recently purchased a vacant residential lot on which there was previously a single family home that was foreclosed on and then demolished. The house had "sinking" issues which rendered it unsafe. Supposedly about 100 years ago they dug a test pit looking for iron ore. When they didn't find any, the pit was then used as a dump for construction debris and then covered over.

I just got a hold of the geo-engineering report ordered by the Township, complete with borings, which basically says that there's uncompacted, junk fill down to 30 feet, with bedrock at 45-65 feet.

What is the best approach for building on a lot such as this? The geo report mentions replacing the fill and properly compacting it. The lot is 14,000sq/ft, so I'd imagine that would be a big to-do, unless only the soil under the house footprint would need replaced. I've been reading up on helical piers and am wondering if that may be an option.

I'll be talking to some experts in the coming weeks, but I'd like to get some education from BPers before I do.

 I don't know, Michael. I never even thought of that. Where would they advertise properties?

Wayne Brooks to the rescue again! Thanks, Wayne.

Looks like there's only a month to go for the redemption period. We'll see how this plays out.

I have my eye on an occupied bank-owned property on an auction site that was originally foreclosed on this past October. As is customary, the auction site offers a Special Warranty Deed.

While digging around to find information on the previous owner (who still resides there), I found several large IRS liens in this former owner's name.

Does a Special Warranty Deed protect me from a potential IRS redemption in this case?

Hi, Kyle. All the houses in the neighborhood are single family homes. I'm hoping you're right.

The previous owner died, the house was left vacant for years, and was foreclosed on, and demolished by the Township (not necessarily in that order). I don't think the owner rescinded usage.

Thanks, @Wayne Brooks. The same manholes are on every lot in the neighborhood in the front by the street.

I guess I made a rookie no-no and assumed the land use to be vacant residential, although I could've sworn that when I first checked there was no mention of the word "farm". I think the zoning of R2 threw me off. I suppose I'll have to see if I can get this changed via a Planning Commission meeting? Or, is it no biggie and I can just resell under it's current use? Remember, I'm looking to flip the lot, but getting top dollar is always nice :) 

@Dale Thomas I thought you may be able to shed some light on this:

The property is zoned R2, but the land use now says "Farm: Vac Agr". I'm thinking that after the Township had the house demolished, they changed the land use. Are we talking about a big problem or minor problem here if I'm going to be marketing it to builders? Do you think this is something that a Township meeting can resolve?

Thanks again to @Dale Thomas & @Jay Hinrichs.

One quick, very basic follow up question:

The property has what looks like two manhole covers on it. One is labeled "Bell Atlantic" for what I assume is for telephone utility and the other is labeled PP&L (the local power company). The property has 140ft of road frontage and also had sewer service to the house that was torn down. So, would this property be deemed improved, or unimproved for marketing purposes?