River Lot With No Zoning What Would You Build?
I have just purchased a lot on the river in a very nice area. My plan was to build a little fish camp type house on it and rent it out weekly. We already do this with condos at the beach and really enjoy it. The seller said there was restrictions for 1500 square feet, but upon further investigations through title work we found out that it was not zoned. The lot is 50 by 255 and on deep water. Would you build a duplex, condos, or stick with a single family fish camp type house.
There are no deed restrictions and the housing in the general area are single fam. What i was thinking was a duplex or small three story condo. do you have any experience with either of these?
PalmGuy,
Your town should have a set of FEMA maps. This will tell you if the property is in a 100 year floodplain.
commercialking,
Municipalities in my area (strangely enough) actually have a zoning classification for "floodplain conservation" or something similar.
Nancy
Go here:
http://store.msc.fema.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FemaWelcomeView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1
Click on the tab "map search," type in the address, and poof- you will know if it is within the 100 year floodplane. I use this all the time as a preliminary due dilligence step for checking out properties. Pretty handy sometimes though it is a very rough approximation. It will let you save a PDF of the map for free. I also use it to put together inexpensive marketing materials on property I am selling as the broker/agent.
[ Edited by woodsong on Date 04/28/2005 ][ Edited by woodsong on Date 04/28/2005 ]
Peter,
I sent you a PM. I work in the ATL area and do a lot of assemblages. Have you talked with the neighbors? are they interested in selling? it makes things complicated when you start telling the sellers you are assembling the block. I usually just do contracts with each seller and give myself enough time in the inspection period to either get the other properties under contract or figure something out- either 90 or 120 days. Are you going to have to rezone? What county are you working in? It is best to make closing contingent upon issuance of the land disturbance permit if the sellers will agree.
20% is a slim deal, 25% is ok, 30% is what we aim for.
yes, developed lot cost typically runs about 25% of the finished home sales price and no, builders typically will not pay more than that, whether that be for town homes, villas, or detached units.
Value of developed lots is going to be based on the finished home sales price.
Thanks for the response Nancy and Woodsong. I greatly appreciate it. I have been spending a lot of time on this site trying to absorb as much information that I can. Thanks so much for all your post.
Jason
You and your wife could also move back in for two years. This would increase your net profit as you would likely eliminate capital gains tax (up to $500k profit). Just a thought.
Zoning changes are always a good place to start.