If I leave or find a home with a garage foundation with just the sill plate I can rebuild/repair a new one the same foundation no matter where it is on the property (regardless of zoning) in most cases.

The problem is the primo prices they are wanting for those 1800s rebuilds.

So if I have a complete loss, I will not be getting enough money back from insurance to rebuild the house.

Would they go so far as to require a tear down of perfectly good work and then rebuild again with a permit?

If the house burned down, I'd prefer to have the minimum contents coverage (usually the min is 5k) so I would be reimbursed for buying a new set of appliances when I rebuild.

I have heard on podcasts of people rebuilding houses but I think those buyers are more rare.

We got an estimate to rebuild and it was $15K that we don't want to spend out-of-pocket.SHOULD WE:-Look into FHA203Ks to buy the house and fix the stairs?

My goal is to learn how to develop on existing property (maybe buying very old single home and knock it down to rebuild into several condo/townhouses).

Generally the only issue you might run into is if you have to rebuild at some point.

Purchase price: $760,000 Cash invested: $ ###,### (a substantial amount) Sale price: $1,640,000This is a typical project of a Full Gut Re-Build SFR (current pace is modest: 4 per year). https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-...