All Forum Posts by: Seth Holmen

Here is one thing to consider. If you build a rectangular shaped house, have the long face of the house face south. The short ends face east/west. Put your garage on the North. This is the best orientation for daylight and energy efficiency. You will have a nice bright house. 

Put living spaces on south and west sides.  Stairs/ mud room / laundry on North. east is good for bedrooms and kitchen. Nice morning light. 

Keep it all the same! You will order a little extra and it will be good have that in storage for if there is any damage down the road. Then you only have one color to worry about. Also, if you start renovating more units, keep all the materials the same. Same paint color, same flooring, same appliances. Makes fixing things and replacing things so much easier.  

I would do a FOIA with the local building department. Ask for all building permit / code violation related documents. If your property is in Chicago, look here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/bldgs/supp_info/bldgs_foia.html

I like the idea of building a new home on an existing foundation. For one, it scares most people way and allow you to structure a create deal! Step 1. Absolutely have a structural engineer review the foundation. Don't even think about trying to save a few hundred bucks not to have this done. Such cheap liability insurance. Fire can absolutely damage concrete. Not only that. If it's been exposed to the elements for some time after the fire, that can have an impact. If the house structure failed during the fire and walls fell in or floor joists fell in, these can damage the foundation wall if they were fastened to the concrete.    

Agreed, never heard of a refinance before Certificate of Occupancy. Now keep in mind that C of O doesn’t mean the construction has to be finished. Get a working bathroom, kitchen and all safety related items finished. Not all the landscaping, trim and finishes need to be installed. They may need to be purchased and on site though. 

Maybe start with a "lite" version of that analysis before you drop the big $$. Get some help and do some zoning / feasibility study with a brokers opinion and market analysis. This could be done for a fraction of that cost. What you are describing sounds like an entire underwriting document with building cost estimate. We've done that on a few larger multi-family projects around Chicago last year. We get a pretty fat book with all of the research and projected financials for the first 5 years. 

Feasibility study on if it’s a good rental market? What sort of information are you looking for? Confirm zoning and allowable use and building cost? 

I might have some guys for you depending on your specific project. 

The simplest thing may be to just subdivide and list them with a local broker. Getting into a "partnership" with a developer or builder that you don't have a relationship with can be a risky thing. Better to have a good clean exit strategy even if you are leaving some money on the table by not developing the whole property yourself. This is the quick exit strategy. 

If you have the itch and appetite for development then maybe you go the route of developing it yourself and finding a good civil engineer and custom home builder. You get a piece of each lot / house sold. This is the longer game where you don't get paid until the end. 

Just some quick ideas. Find who the local civil engineering firms are and ask them who the builders / developers are in the area.    

@Paul Reiland Looks like you are receiving good advice on here. I would just confirm some of that. Yes, first step is to check the zoning and what is an allowable use or special use by code. Being that it's a single family home already I would be suspicious if you could get any use other than residential here. You are probably looking at possibly subdividing the lot into another single family lot (if you have enough frontage and lot size per code). Or looking at a multifamily building. I believe Minneapolis just passed a very favorable zoning law that allows for more multifamily and Accessory Dwelling Units. Check into that. https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-sin...

The best ways to get information are 1. Talk with the city planner / economic developer. 2. Local commercial real estate broker. 3. Local architect.