Real Estate Investor · The Dalles, OR · Member since 2008 · 18 posts · 0 votes
I am currently in my due dilligence period of a purchase and just found out that the property I am looking at is on the city's demolition list, pretty far down the list so I do not see this happening in the near future. Does anyone have experience getting a property off the list with a stay order? How do I go about it, what are the "golden tickets" for fighting this in court?
The property is structurally sound but has been vandilized and needs a lot of cleaning/updating. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, do you think this is grounds to renegotiate the purchase price? The price is 15% of the ARV.
Seek other opportunities. There are many more out there waiting for your consideration.
From your post, it would seem you are trying to fabricate an investment opportunity. Time is money. You will be spending a lot of time on this one and still may lose. You never know what government people will do. Never.
I am not 100% sure, I am guessing it is listed as uninhabitable, there has been vandilism and evidence of animals living in the house though I have yet to find any (neighbor says cats and racoons), the house is not secure so it's an issue until I am able to start work on the house. I am meeting with the building inspector to get a written statement from him to exactly what he suggests needs to be completed in order to make it "habitable", it's in a nice area and is structurally sound so I'm surprised it's on the list, it has been vacant for several years though.
The company I am purchasing it from, bought it at a commissioners sale (tax sale) and the 12 month redemption period just ended last month so that has a lot to do with why it has been vacant for so long.
Seek other opportunities. There are many more out there waiting for your consideration.
From your post, it would seem you are trying to fabricate an investment opportunity. Time is money. You will be spending a lot of time on this one and still may lose. You never know what government people will do. Never.
My reply won't help much, other than to give insight as to why it might be on the list. I do property preservation work and one of the properties we have maintained for about 4 years as the mortgage company does their thing to get title back is a good example. Nice area, the house is dated but sound, a fair amount of deferred maintenance but not extreme. Much better than what you described your property to be.
It boils down to this - the neighbors are tired of looking at a vacant house next door and they are blowing up the phones at the Town Hall! They don't want to answer their phones anymore, so they are trying to push it to be demolished. This particular property is "stuck" somewhere in the foreclosure process, likely due to being a reverse mortgage with a borrower that died. It makes no sense, in my opinion, to tear it down, but that is the way it is headed.
Like your deal, if somebody with the means to actually do SOMETHING with the property comes along, then this one might be saved. I wouldn't give up yet, but I also wouldn't waste a lot of time on it if the heart of Code Enforcement is set on tearing it down no matter what.
Adam Spears, how much are the repairs? At 15% of ARV this could still become a deal depending on how much work it needs. Being on demolition list does not mean much if there is still a lot of time before it gets demolished. Also, since it's in a nice area, if the numbers are right and you work with the city building code enforcement department, this might actually be an awesome deal.
It is a really great deal I think, I've been to every office in the courthouse today and asked lots of questions there, here, and other places and people and this seems to be a good deal and a doable one. The ARV is actually 37% I miscalculated and left out some things. It's a 5 bd 2 bath in an area where 5 bd's are really rare for less than 100k which is why i think it will be easy to sell after it is fixed. I'm paying 8k for it, back taxes/lawn care and sewage fees are just under 2k (basically 2k) I only have to pay 995 for closing. I've did a lot of math and budgeting and estimates, have family and friends willing to help w/electrical and plumbing issues and will also do a lot of work myself since I have a limited amount to work with on repairs but my total cost for purchase, repairs/materials, holding costs (taxes/insurance since a cash deal) is 30k conservatively and I hope to sell it quickly for 80k, hoping for multiple offers and above asking but you never know...I would expect a quick sale for a 5 bd in this area. I think what I will do is get a letter from the home inspector saying it is salvagable, have neighbors sign a petition to keep it, and attend the environmental hearings and show progress on the work. The building inspectors office informed me that it isn't even on the top 20 list to be demolished and they only do 3-4 a year anyways so I should have plenty of time. What do you think? Worth the risk? Like I said structurally it is sound and I will know more after getting the building inspectors input tomorrow when he does a walk through with me. Thanks for the insight Adam, that makes a lot of sense to me after talking to neighbors, they want it tore down or fixed up because it's been vacant and overgrown for so long.
I'm curious how this situation turned out for you.
I'm in a very similar situation at the moment but it is with a house I would like to wholesale. It is a FSBO and the numbers for my deal are very similar to yours and this home is also on the demolition list. It was put on the list because of a fire in the kitchen about a year ago. The property was inherited and the owners chose not to fix or keep up the house. I'm going to see the house today. Any advice or insight would be appreciated.
I'm curious how this situation turned out for you.
I'm in a very similar situation at the moment but it is with a house I would like to wholesale. It is a FSBO and the numbers for my deal are very similar to yours and this home is also on the demolition list. It was put on the list because of a fire in the kitchen about a year ago. The property was inherited and the owners chose not to fix or keep up the house. I'm going to see the house today. Any advice or insight would be appreciated.
In my situation it turned out the house actually was not on the demolition list. The neighbors told me it was because they didn't want someone to buy it they wanted it torn down.
I did talk to the building inspector and was told they would inspect it tell me what needed to be done and then take it off the demolition list once repairs were made. In my county they only demo 1-3 houses per year so unless it's a high-priority demo the repairs could be made in a timely manner and it could be removed. though it seems investors run from houses on them a list like it's the plague!