All Forum Posts by: Tom Wang

@Allan Smith I was going to say the same thing - Some experienced home inspectors are also GC's and/or otherwise qualified inspect low rise buildings in addition to single family homes and small mutlis.

Find the right inspector, and the due diligence process really isn't that different.

Thanks. Any advice on how to identify good structural inspectors? I've tried looking for them (just by googling "structural engineers) it seems they are kind of a rare resource.

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Quote from @Allan Smith:

If I were you I would hire an inspector, and then possibly even go to the appointment to meet him, or ask him if I can pay him a little more to pick his brain about what he looks for on these inspections structurally. You only need to learn it once and then you have it forever. When I first started looking at houses I had no idea what was a good foundation and what was bad, now I have repaired many foundations and I know just by looking at a crack what the structure is doing or if it's just a bad drywall job.

Thanks, this sounds like the way to go. I go to regular building inspections now, so when I hire the structural engineer I will definitely go onsite to pick their brains. Agree it's pretty amazing how much you can learn by talking to the inspector

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Context: I'm looking to move from small multifamily (duplexes, etc) to medium-size low-rise apartment buildings: 10-50 units, 2-3 story buildings.

From my previous experience, I feel fairly confident about what to look for in a regular home inspection. E.g. everything but the structure, which is also the most important.

However, I'm feeling a bit uneasy with buying older buildings (where most of the value assets fall into) without having some knowledge of how to evaluate the structure. Obviously this is not going to be "DIY" but even if I hire a structural engineer, I still want to have a baseline of knowledge (as with any other aspect of RE investing).

Some questions I have in my mind:

-What are the typical structural risks involved with low-rise apartment? I've never heard of a low-rise structure collapsing, but how common is it that a building would be rendered uninhabitable due to structural issues?

-What are the main structural maintenance costs I'd have to do to the structure on an aging building? Say something that is build in the 50's? Would it require retrofitting costs in the 100ks or even millions as time goes on?

-How would one evaluate the structure in a basic walk-through? What are things to look out for? Most buildings I've seen have at least some cracks in the concrete, how do you tell one building has more severe issues than another?

Are there books/classes/other ways to ramp up on this knowledge? How would you go about learning this?

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Quote from @Bernard Joseph S.:

Quote from @Tom Wang:

Quote from @Bernard Joseph S.:

Quote from @Tom Wang:

Great post. I'm in a similar boat and own a freshwater plot in Cape Coral. I'm attempting to get it zoned to enable building a duplex. Could you share a bit about how you identified the builder you eventually decided to work with? Was it through internet search/referral/ other channels? If you know anything about duplex builders (most seem to be single family only?), could you let me know also? Thanks!

How big is your lot?

Standard Quarter acre

Curious about the approval for a duplex on a standard lot. They tend to build out not up in CC from what I’ve seen. Someone with a better understanding will comment I’m sure but I tend to think it will be a difficult move.

Quick update here. Spoke to the planner on duty in CC. And his take was that they just mark whatever area doesn't have city sewer yet (they are building these out over 5-10 years), will be in the Single/Multi "catch-all" zoning. Once the public works are there they will just revert to existing zoning which in my case is SFH.

He did mention that if the lot is facing a major road, they board would consider rezoning to MF, but since my lot is about 7 spaces into the neighborhood, it probably wouldn't be approved. FYI

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Cape Coral, Florida

Quote from @Don M.:

Quote from @Tom Wang:

Hey Tiyu,
Unfortunately, this is a new process for me (and am doing a single family), so I can't be of much help. As you're aware, Cape Coral code and zoning can be strict.
In terms of how I found a builder: I did so through a turnkey provider that you can find mentioned throughout this thread, knowing that I had a lot to learn through this process.
Good luck moving forward!

Thanks for letting me know Don! I'll check out the turnkey provider you mentioned (never heard of such a concept before), so learned something new!

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Cape Coral, Florida