All Forum Posts by: Dan Cotter

Manesh,

That is a gutsy deal. I admire that you're posting the details. I'll try to keep on top of it. It reminds me of J Scott's diary posts, & could be a great educational tool for everyone.

I did an urban planning studio in that neighborhood when I was at GA Tech. That part of town was arguably ground-zero for the foreclosure crisis in Atlanta, but there has been a concerted push to spur revitalization by coordinating public & nonprofit investments (City, BeltLine, EPA brownfield remediation funds, HUD, DOT, Annie E. Casey Foundation, etc.). Still a long road ahead, but in the next 10+ years, it is an area to watch.

Have you found recent closings in the $200-$250K range? My gut is that you'll be pushing it at the top end of that market, but I haven't looked at the numbers in quite a while. How do you plan to minimize theft, vandalism, illegal dumping, etc.?

Best,

Dan

Thanks, Andrew. You're really pulling out all the stops on this one! Please add me as well. 

I'm in.

No prob, Glenn. Good luck!

All good comments. The seller has no control over the property once he sells it, unless you make a separate agreement that effectively becomes part of the deed and runs with the land. That would be a terrible idea, since you cannot simply have a surveyor draw a new boundary. It would be an illegal parcel with no marketable value. You have to go to the planning and zoning office of whatever municipality the property is in, and ask about their process for subdividing a parcel. (It could be a city, or if the property is unincorporated, you would go to the county's office.) The subdivision process can be fairly complicated, time consuming, and costly, particularly for a novice. Jim is correct that the tax parcel will have to be redrawn, but you need to start by talking with an urban planner. They will describe the whole process to you, and all the steps you will need to follow.

You need to step back and ask a few questions, though. Why does the seller want the land subdivided, anyway? Does he want to keep half the land? Does he expect that it will be worth more as 2 tracts, since you could build another house on the empty lot? Why do you want the property and what do you plan to do with it? What zoning district is it in? If you subdivide it, you will have to meet all the regulations of the zoning code and the subdivision code, e.g. minimum lot size, etc. The same goes if you want to build anything on the empty lot. If the zoning will not allow you to build what you want to build, then you are probably wasting your time.

If after answering all these questions, you decide that you want to subdivide the land, I would not buy the land outright, hoping you will be able to get it subdivided. In that case,  you should probably put the land under contract, with closing contingent on approval of the subdivision.

Often the county tax assessor's website will have records of the property's sale history, with deed book & page references that you can look up either in the state clerk of court's online database or at the real estate office in the county courthouse. If you look at each deed, there will be a legal description of the property's location and boundaries. If the name of the municipality changes, you have your answer. It sounds like you want as much info as possible, so also check for plat book references.

You mentioned that the lien is a title exception. Did you have an attorney/title insurance company research the title? It might help answer some of your questions. Surveyors also do that sort of research, but if you are hiring both I'd recommend the lawyer first, to avoid duplication of effort.

More tools that might help:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/44/topics/1574...

No prob, Dave!

Dave,

Karen is spot on. It sounds like you are just getting started, so here are a few tools you'll probably use all the time for research once you get the hang of them... Don't be overwhelmed by this, since it may be more info than you really need at this stage. If you just want a quick answer, skip to the G.I.S. and MUNICODE sections. Find out the zoning district on G.I.S., and then look up that district's zoning regulations on Municode. You could also even skip THOSE steps and meet immediately with the City, but if you spend the time and do the extra research, you will expand your toolbelt and learn a lot more about the property in the process.

TAX DATA

Start by Googling "pay tax [insert county name]." Somewhere on the county tax assessor, tax appraiser, or tax commissioner's website (each municipality is different), you will be able to find the the tax parcel ID number and other helpful information. The tax maps can also give you an idea of the property's boundaries, but they are often inaccurate. For the boundaries, rely on the legal description in the deed, or better yet get a survey and title work done, if (1) you decide you are very serious about the deal and (2) you determine that the cost is justified.

For leverage in your price negotiation, you can also see if they owe any back-taxes.

CLERK OF COURT

In Georgia, you can pay a very small fee for online access to the state clerk of court's database. You can look up property deeds and plats on their website, although some of the older stuff may not be online. Invaluable. Just to give you an example, in GA the website is www.gsccca.org. @John Weidner, do you know the Illinois website?

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (G.I.S.)

Increasingly, cities and counties make zoning and other information publicly available in online, interactive maps. It can be a very efficient way for you to get a lot of info quickly. Just be aware that sometimes there are bugs, and other times the information may be out of date. Also be aware that sometimes a parcel will have not just "base" zoning but also "overlay" zoning (additional regulations that are overlaid on top of the base zoning). 

MUNICODE

Start by checking the municipality's website for their zoning code. If you can't find it easily, check Municode.com. It is a website that a lot of municipalities use to publish their zoning code online.

YOUR STATE'S "SECRETARY OF STATE" WEBSITE

Not really related to your question, but useful. You can look up ownership and contact info for corporate entities here. If a business owns a property you are interested in, this can help you figure out who is the wizard behind the curtain (to use a Wizard of Oz metaphor).

HOA COVENANTS

If the property is in a subdivision with a homeowners association or condo association, the HOA can set additional rules about what you can do with the property. HOA covenants are typically published online at the Clerk or Court's website.

Welcome to BP, Mercedes! 

You might like these podcasts:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/05/09...

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/07/25...

David Shafer's free ebook is also pretty thought-provoking:

http://shaferfinancial.com/book.php

Welcome to BP, Michael. Best of luck with the real estate empire!