Industrial land , zoning advice

[Lucio Palanca]

My brother owns a 2 acre parcel of land zoned as industrial.  He has offered me to lease-purchase the property .  I want to build 6 duplexes in the area which will make me fall in a commercial real estate category for tax consideration.  Do I have to get the land titled to me before I build?  I plan to make a separate contract for the lease purchase agreement. 

[Henry Clark]

@Lucio Palanca

1.  Make your offer subject to getting the property rezoned, special or conditional use approval for your project.

2.  No bank will want to take 2nd position.  See if your brother will take a second position, since he will still own the land.

3.  Looking at your background you have one rental house as experience.  You need to do your due diligence.  EPA, storm pond, 2 acres doesn't seem like much to put 6 duplexes on-  parking, driveways, setbacks, landscaping, fences, soil test, fire hydrants, survey, etc.  Let alone just planning and doing the budget and deal analysis.  Make sure you do a lot of prep work and have two or three people look over your info.  First time out you might need to spend $60,000 on engineering, they will answer all of the above questions and many others.