All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Bryce,

I run into these situations all the time when flipping houses. I hate waisting the space with fillers. Jeff W had mentioned a cookie sheet pull out which is a goos idea. I have also used a space like this for spices. I would find a custom shop and have them build something useful, it will be worth it in the long run.

If you take your time and do some research you should be able to find someone to build this for a fraction of what home depot would charge.

I have priced many kitchens through home depot and my cabinet guy consistently comes in about 40% less. It is worth looking around.

Bryanna,

I was also thinking about the connection 200 feet away. If my memory serves me the minimum fall for a sewer line is .125 a foot. at 200 feet there is no way you could get the correct flow for sewer.

I have installed a few subdivisions and the main sewer lines aren't that deep. 1/8 per foot at 200 feet is 25 feet deep. There is no way it could be tied in correctly without a pump station.

If you can't get your money back I would explore tying in, in front of your house.

Bryanna,

A few things I am finding odd.

1. not understanding why there is grey water depositing into a basement sump pump. A sump pump typically would handle ground water only and dispose of outside. If you have a pump system to handle sewage or gray water, it should be a sealed system. Once you know what type it is you can then see if there are code violations.

The other thing I find weird is why your sewer ties into the line cutting across other properties and doesn't go to the street in front of your house. When you bought the house was there an easement for access to the property this sewer line crosses? Another thing to look into, if not you may not have access to fix the line.

Recently a client of my wifes sold a house, the buyers came back on the sellers claiming they didn't disclose items even though they has a full disclosure filled out. The buyer sued and won. Not legal advise but I wouldn't let this one lie, sounds like some pretty shotty work.

Iris,

Even though the zoning states you can build two houses that doesn't mean you will be able to build two houses.

You have to take the size of your lot into consideration and see if it qualifies size wise to build two houses.

You have to look at set backs ext. If the property is contiguous to a higher density zoning you could go into the city for a zone change.

The lot may be undersized and still have the zoning.

An undersized lot doesn't mean you are dead in the water, it just means you will need to get creative.

Hi Seth,

I live in southern Oregon and have done a fair amount of infill projects. The most important part is keep an open mind and let questions answered lead to more questions.

I have always been able to go into the city and across the counter ask enough questions to to have a comfort level and move forward with projects.

Here is an example of keeping an open mind.

I was looking at a single family, zoned single family. It did however have enough land in my mind to add two more houses. My research showed that the land was contiguous to a different zoning which was high density. This opened a widow to change the zoning on this piece of property.

Another challange I ran into was the access beside the existing house to what would become the access for two more houses in the rear of the property. The access was one foot short of the required width for firetruck access killing the project.

Through research and questions I discovered I could put a sprinkler systems in the houses at the rear of the property. This satisfied city requirements.

I moved forward with the project and it was a success.

Advise: keep an open mind a grill the heck out of the building dept. That is what we pay them for.

Hi Michelle,

We also have a tenant that pays late, almost every time. We do have it written in his lease that for all late payments there will be an additional payment due, it is a set amount. He has always paid that so no skin off our teeth.

We have also evicted tenants, our first time however did not go well. We served the eviction notice, went through all the proper procedures. When it came time for them to leave we learned that our tenant was't even living there, she had left months ago when the rent stopped being paid. Her sisters however were living there free since she had left. The language missing from our lease was Et Al, this makes the termination for anyone in the property, because we didn't have this we had to start the eviction process again for the squatters.

I don't know that this helps. 

Here would be my advise, find a real estate attorney to have on your team. It is important to get sound advise in situations like this. Bad decisions like the one we made can cost you way more than a couple hundred dollar fee for some advise.

Hello Hilde,

A lot of properties I have bought, I buy because they can be split. I would find unusual if the building dept didn't have this information you are looking for on file.

When I go into the city here are the questions I start with.

First find out the zoneing, once you know this you can then look at the size of the property via city maps. Do the math and figure out what and how many units you can build.

The city has always helped me with this process before I have bought any properties.

Sometimes you can change a properties use to even add more.

Infill properties are fun and can be quite profitable.

Neil,

I am from the other end of the state and have similar issues.

Giving advise without knowing the market you are in is tough, I will say this though.

It is important when beginning to be patient and more important do the homework.

Picking the wrong property and spending foolish money can bury you quickly.

I have canvased neighborhoods in areas I wanted to invest and simply knocked on doors.

A good question to ask after introducing yourself is do you know anyone in the neighborhood that might be interested in selling their property. For sale buy owners directly can often offer enough savings to make a project worth doing.

I knocked on a door one time and did exactly what I described. It was a single family on 5 acres. There were also 2 more properties adjacent to this 5 acres, also 5 acres each. Because I knocked on the one door and started talking around I was able to get all 15 acres.

I went to the city, changed the zoning and put in a 27 lot subdivision, all from knocking on one door.

I have also partnered with owners. I have found owners that own the property free and clear. Got them to subordinate the property for a premium, and did the project without carrying costs.

I throw these examples out to give you ideas. You just have to be patient and have an open mind, deals are only limited to your creativity.

Good hunting.

Hi Dylan,

Giving advise without knowing the market you are in is tough, I will say this though.

It is important when beginning to be patient and more important do the homework.

Picking the wrong property and spending foolish money can bury you quickly.

I have canvased neighborhoods in areas I wanted to invest and simply knocked on doors.

A good question to ask after introducing yourself is do you know anyone in the neighborhood that might be interested in selling their property. For sale buy owners directly can often offer enough savings to make a project worth doing.

I knocked on a door one time and did exactly what I described. It was a single family on 5 acres. There were also 2 more properties adjacent to this 5 acres, also 5 acres each. Because I knocked on the one door and started talking around I was able to get all 15 acres.

I went to the city, changed the zoning and put in a 27 lot subdivision, all from knocking on one door.

I have also partnered with owners. I have found owners that own the property free and clear. Got them to subordinate the property for a premium, and did the project without carrying costs.

I throw these examples out to give you ideas. You just have to be patient and have an open mind, deals are only limited to your creativity.

Good hunting.

Jordan,

There are so many variables to building a house no one could give you a blanket sq foot price to cover your build.

I build all over the country and the prices from one county to the next will vary.

I would encourage you to do the hard homework. Most lending institutions will supply you with a sheet that has every item nesasary to build a house. Take this sheet, do the research and build a spread sheet, this will give you an accurate cost of your project.

I can not stress enough the importance of doing your own research. This will give you complete control of your project with minimum surprises.

Once you have this spreadsheet you can decide what it is you want to take on and what it is you want sub out.

Once you have done this a half dozen times you will start getting a clear understanding of the cost per square foot for your builds.