When deciding to demolition a damaged home, is it better to keep the slab?

Atlanta, Georgia
General Landlording & Rental Properties
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When deciding to demolition a damaged home, is it better to keep the slab?

Alex Tang
Member since 2018 · 27 posts · 4 votes
Hello,

One of my rentals was heavily damaged in a fire.  It's a 1500-1600 sq ft home on maybe half an acre of land.  Looks like the slab is in good shape.  I am going to demolition the home rather than rebuild it because the costs is well above my insurance settlement.  Question, is it better to keep the concrete slab and rough plumbing or demo that too?  I plan to sell the land and which option would maximize my value?

Thanks

Alex
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Greg M.
Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 5k+ votes
1y

Why do anything? I assume you're going to sell it to a developer, so sell it as is and let them deal with it. 

There may be a property tax benefit to leaving pieces. Where I'm at, if you leave a tiny piece of an existing wall and rebuild the remaining 99.99%, it's a remodel instead of a new build and the property taxes don't reset. 

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  • Greg M.
    Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    1y

    Why do anything? I assume you're going to sell it to a developer, so sell it as is and let them deal with it. 

    There may be a property tax benefit to leaving pieces. Where I'm at, if you leave a tiny piece of an existing wall and rebuild the remaining 99.99%, it's a remodel instead of a new build and the property taxes don't reset. 

    2Reply
  • Henry T.
    Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    1y
    Quote from @Greg M.:

    Why do anything? I assume you're going to sell it to a developer, so sell it as is and let them deal with it. 

    There may be a property tax benefit to leaving pieces. Where I'm at, if you leave a tiny piece of an existing wall and rebuild the remaining 99.99%, it's a remodel instead of a new build and the property taxes don't reset. 

    That's excellent advice, that is often easily overlooked.
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  • Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
    1y
    Quote from @Alex Tang:
    Hello,

    One of my rentals was heavily damaged in a fire.  It's a 1500-1600 sq ft home on maybe half an acre of land.  Looks like the slab is in good shape.  I am going to demolition the home rather than rebuild it because the costs is well above my insurance settlement.  Question, is it better to keep the concrete slab and rough plumbing or demo that too?  I plan to sell the land and which option would maximize my value?

    Thanks

    Alex

     I would sell it as is and let someone else decide on it. But if I were to demo it, I would remove the slab as well as new layout may have different locations for plumbing which may require it to be removed anyways.

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  • Alex Tang
    OP
    Member since 2018 · 27 posts · 4 votes
    1y

    Thanks for the advice.  I had heard that leaving the slab and rough plumbing would raise the sale value of the land because those are costs that a developer won't have to incur.  But Chris, to your point, I've also heard that it's better to remove everything and have a clean slate of land for a developer to work on.  Conflicting things that I've heard

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