All Forum Posts by: Joel Colvos

Can you be more specific about what you are trying to do?  Do you have rural residential land that you are trying to make commercial?  Or what?  Why wouldn't you just invest in land that is already zoned the way you need it?

I wouldn't call Kitsap's lack of inventory 'extreme' and there are plenty of builders around that are focused on quality single family homes.  TNT home builders come to mind 

http://www.tnthomesinc.com/

Kitsap is in a strange and awkward teenage phase of growth, there are great quality homes and there are crapped out trailer parks and everything inbetween.  And of course lots of new cookie cutter developments.

Also sorry if this was posted twice, I was working on it and it vanished.  Not sure if that was me or bigger pockets website glitch.

I am conducting research on potential investment properties in Kitsap County, Washington State using the counties GIS website and I have some questions concerning zoning and 'property class'.  I understand generally the zoning restrictions that interest me, i.e. Rural Residential vs. various types of Commercial Zoning etc.  But the more research I do the more I run across vast inconsistencies with 'property class'.  For example single family homes being classified as 'cabins', empty land being classified as 'single family residential', some properties that I know are not buildable still being classified as 'single family residential'.  Does the property class mean anything other than how that particular piece of property is currently being classified for property tax assessment within the county?  Or does it possibly mean some further legal restriction that I don't understand?  I'm seeing suspicious classifications all around Kitsap including Bremerton, Port Orchard, Bainbridge Island, etc.

Bonus Question: does anyone have insight into property class '911- Common area' and how this is determined and taxed by the county.  I see lakefront properties sometimes classified this way.

Hey Victor and welcome, are you looking at Bremerton specifically?  Or are you looking in the larger area?  Single Family Homes? Multi units? Do you have a financial plan together?  What have you come up with as your niche?  The area is rich with possibilities and people from outside of the area are always looking in as one of the few affordable areas left in the Puget Sound region.  You already have an advantage if you know the area well.

welcome Kitsap!  You really might want to start with one property and get your feet wet before going over the top, there is a lot to learn and no reason to rush.  

This is where it is going to get a little sticky, because there are some minor structural issues that would need to be dealt with, but they would need to be dealt with in a non-contemporary manor.  For example repairing/replacing a rotting log with a new log as opposed to replacing it with some 2x6 framing.  Unfortunately I just don't think I will be able to work this out with with my local building dept.

Unfortunately this has been the exact opposite experience for me dealing with this areas building department.  They have this small town power trip thing going on that you simply don't see in larger urban areas.  Codes are enforced very randomly and it depends a whole lot on how that particular inspector is feeling that day.  They seem to have an unlimited time supply and pickyness about seemingly random things.  I really want to get me ducks in a row before I even approach them.

We have a line on a 100 plus year old historic log cabin in our target area in our target price range.  It has some minor structural issues and all systems would need replacing/developing however I'm a bit afraid of opening up this can of worms with the local building dept and really I need to make sure I'm asking the right questions.

We are not intimidated by the repairs needed and have some innovative solutions to be able to retrofit newer systems into the cabin.  Even structurally I feel pretty confident that we can make some minor tweeks that would make it much more structurally sound (replacing a few rotten logs etc).  However none of this is going to be up to contemporary building codes and frankly bringing it up to code (how could you even do that?) would ruin the beauty of the cabin.

We would want to discuss this with the local planners before we proceed but I'm not even sure how to start the discussion.  I know that the rules will be different for different areas, but in general what would our rights be as a contractor taking on a historic structure like this?  Clearly its not going to be up to the International Building Code but it would be safe and we could install the various systems up to code with a little flexibility from the building dept.

I know this is kind of wrong and weird but I'm wondering if anyone out there has any experience with something like this?  How do modern building codes get applied in this type of situation and how could I avoid any pitfalls?  Our local building dept is not known for their creative and out of the box thinking.

I have some very specific properties that you might be interested in and can fill you in on the whole dramatic backstory.  They are not on a lot of people's radars.  I'm new to BP and can't quite even figure out this interface yet, sorry.