You could be referring to 2 different things:I lived in NYC for 12 years until recently while building my career as a licensed architect.

As licensed Architect I don't fit the selections.

@Dan Sheeks probably best to start with an architect.

Be careful with it though and only accept a true engineered cost segregation study done with a site survey by a construction engineer or architect qualified in cost segregation.

Once I figure out the best and most secure way to own property, my goal is to try and get the architect and builders to understand and add some of the advances in electrical and plumbing features that we take for granted in the west.I've been following this thread with the hope that I will see someone chime in with "the answer" to owning property here as a foreigner but so far the advice that has been offered here has been a confirmation of what I have determined to be my options in VN.The rules change a lot but I think that is to be expected when the local government is playing catchup due to savvy foreign investors coming to town and asking the necessary and appropriate questions.

Our architect took the plans downtown to submit but the city found some issue with Title 24 stuff, so that is being corrected now, hopefully to submit this week.

I am an architect from Massachusetts but have potential investors and business owners that live in Davenport.

I used to think I could be an architect growing up until I realized you needed to be good at math haha.

Alternatively, could pay an architect for a few hours to do a feasibility study before you move forward.Some important factors/constraints to consider when subdividing are the required minimum lot size, setbacks and minimum frontages/minimum lot width for a parcel in the zone you're looking at.

I’ve seen drawings from my architect where 2bd can be fit into a sub-500 square feet plan (at the insistence of his client) and was approved, but there was almost no living room to speak of or the bedrooms were tiny to the point of impractical.