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All Forum Posts by: Nick Leopold

Nick Leopold has started 3 posts and replied 3 times.

Hello!

I purchased an old property “as is” that has a lot of unpermitted work from many many years ago. I am in the process of updating the records with the county to ensure a smooth appraisal / refinance. The county dug around for weeks and couldn’t find anything on the property. The area is notorious for not having kept great records on all the old properties. They finally came back with the following:

“At this point we would just need you to apply for a “Special Inspection” at our office for visual “certification” of the existing structures.”

I am curious what this sort of “visual certification” entails. Is it a walk around to measure current square footage, bed and bath count? Will I be opening up walls? Are they looking to see if things are up-to-code? With the house being so old it absolutely would not pass modern inspections. Will they be viewing this through the lens of when it was originally built? I feel that the key word is “visual certification” and hope that it’s very simple and straightforward.

Trying to stay in front of this. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there!

I purchased an old property “as is” that has a lot of unpermitted work from many many years ago. I am in the process of updating the records with the county to ensure a smooth appraisal / refinance. The county dug around for weeks and couldn’t find anything on the property. The area is notorious for not having kept great records on all the old properties. They finally came back with the following:

“At this point we would just need you to apply for a “Special Inspection” at our office for visual “certification” of the existing structures.”

I am curious what this sort of “visual certification” entails. Is it a walk around to measure current square footage, bed and bath count? Will I be opening up walls? Are they looking to see if things are up-to-code? With the house being so old it absolutely would not pass inspections. I feel that the key word is “visual certification” and hope that it’s very simple and straightforward.

Trying to stay in front of this. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there! A year ago I purchased property with two houses built in 1943 and 1950. One property was not listed on documents so I was able to get the county to grandfather in the second house. They assessed them as "two single family dwellings" and also declared both houses to be non-conforming. The exact verbiage on the official signed document from the county is as follows:

"The property is currently assessed with two single family dwellings; however, these dwellings were constructed prior to building permits being required. The current zone district requires a minimum of one acre for two single family dwellings; therefore, these dwellings are considered legal, non-conforming. Internal improvements may occur, however, the footprints fo the homes may not be expanded in any way."

As a note, both houses have individual addresses and I am working with the electric company to install separate meters. One house is approx 1000sqft with three bedrooms, one bath. The second is approx 750sqft with one bedroom, one bath. From the outside they both have a similar look and appear the same size. 

In general I am curious how this property would be assessed? Our intentions are to either (1) rent out one and live in the other or (2) rent out both houses. 

Is this document enough for an appraiser to consider both houses into the total square footage, room count and overall value? If not, are two separate single-family dwellings considered multifamily if the zoning permits it?