Buying an illegally zoned property

Buying an illegally zoned property

Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 6 posts · 3 votes
Greetings all, I'm currently looking at a house that I really love. It's in the area I want to live in, and it's a duplex! Exactly what I'm looking for! Plan would be to live in half of the house and rent the other which would cover the mortgage/insurance/taxes... Great Deal! Here's the catch. When I went to see the property I was hooked! Updated and in great condition. When looking to get a conventional mortgage, I realized the house is residential single family zoned! This illegal conversion to a duplex has led me to loose the ability for a conventional mortgage, and I'm not I have enough cash to have the down payment for a commercial loan. I do have another property that I currently live in, but it's not appraising high enough in an exploding neighborhood because it is a unique property. It has two separate houses on one deed and it's creating a large cash flow every month while renting. There's no comps in the area like it and even after rehabbing both places the HELOC just doesn't seem to work. Questions: What's a good source for finding a 20-30,000 loan for 3-5 years? Any thoughts or ideas on interesting ways to make this deal work? Can I talk directly to the Owner and try to work a deal out with them? Almost a rent to own idea for a year until I have enough cash for a commercial loan? Plan would be to acquire the house, and immediately apply for re-zoning to make future sale and HELOC more possible. Thanks for any input!
1Reply
29 views

Most Popular Reply

Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y
I'll leave the loan question to those more experienced with non-conventional loans... But have you considered what you'll do if you can't get the property rezoned? Will you be ok converting it back to a single family? I don't know what your chances are of getting a successful variance, but it seems a long shot if you are in a sfr area. Also, have you looked at costs to re zone?
See this reply in the discussion

6 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y
    I'll leave the loan question to those more experienced with non-conventional loans... But have you considered what you'll do if you can't get the property rezoned? Will you be ok converting it back to a single family? I don't know what your chances are of getting a successful variance, but it seems a long shot if you are in a sfr area. Also, have you looked at costs to re zone?
  • Rental Property Investor · CT · Member since 2015 · 400 posts · 432 votes
    9y

    Hello @Greg Ressler!

    First off, I love this post because this sounds like a deal I WOULD want to get into! Ha

    Second, I have a hard time taking my emotions out of the deal so I will try to do this for you! 

    • Ok, lets say you get the duplex, will the town nail you with non conforming? Or maybe they wont approve it to be a habitable dwelling? (Making you not be able to rent it) Do me a favor and contact the town directly, ask them and get their answer in writing. 
    • I have the same issue as you! I have two houses on same deed and I had to get a HELOC out for another rental. First appraisal came in 50k than the value! KEEP bugging a local credit union! Some still go up to 100% LTV! (Just as long as you know it will appraise for the value you know its worth, it would be pointless to bug them if its only worth what it appraised for.
    • Which brings me to my next point, if everything checks out with the town, use your HELOC as the down payment with a commercial loan? (I wouldn't really advise this because it will take a long time to pay off that loan.)
      • Always ask yourself, "Is this the highest and best use of my money?"
      • Another option is HELOC with a hard money lender combo. Buy a property that needs work, force appreciation with repairs, and then getting a regular mortgage while paying off that HELOC on the cash out refinance.
    • You could always talk to the owner to do a seller hold back. That way you would only have to bring 10% or so for the down payment.(From what I hear that is the minimum skin in the game a commercial lender will do) Again, this puts you into another loan. If you decide this route just make sure the cash flow still makes it a good deal, remember to take emotions out and look at it objectively. There is NO NEED to buy a property thats a bad deal, its better to have no deal. 

    Good luck with the decision and let us know how it goes Greg! 

  • Mechanicsburg, PA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    @Greg Ressler

    Is the duplex a grandfathered non-conforming BUT permitted use?  Often times an existing use becomes a non-conformity due to changes in zoning regs.  It is still a permitted use because it pre-dated the zoning change.

    We had a duplex in an Industrial zone and it was a non-conforming use, still exists today as it was. We had 5 units on a site only zoned for 2 units. It was there before that town even had zoning, its still there as a non-conforming use. We were able to get both financed with FHA and conventional residential financing

  • Mechanicsburg, PA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    the question would be is it:

    a.  a legal non-conforming use?

    b. an illegal use?

    The town may not know, but can tell you when the zoning for single family was approved for that area and when the conversion happened, and whether the conversion was done with building permits.

  • Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 6 posts · 3 votes
    9y
    Thanks everyone for the great responses...I will call the local town and see what I can dig up. The property is located in Philadelphia zoning so dealing with that municipality would be a pain, but definitely worth it. Looking at a positive cash flow and living rent free in one of the units if I can manage to pull off this deal. It wouldn't be worth it to purchase and convert back to a single family home. At that point and price I would find a better suited single family home to move into. Owner has no desire to apply and convert the property to a legally zoned property. Trying to find out why as this ha to be the main reason it's still on the market after 100+ days and prices close to standard single family homes in the area.
  • Specialist · Lakewood, CO · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    @Greg Ressler It sounds like you already have problems trying to get value for your first "unique" property. Now you're having problems on another that has been on the market for 100+ days. What is your exit strategy for those properties? It sounds like you should have learned on your current property. Those types of properties are difficult to value properly, or just don't actually have the value you think they do. Unless they are making an amazing, killer deal I would stay away from anything that removes your exit strategy.

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.