What about buiding a multi-family property?

Question

Dear All,

I have seen a property which is basically a piece of land with an old warehouse/storage on it. It belongs to an old lady who might be interested in selling it. The warehouse looks easy to demolish and the land could be used to build a triplex or quadruplex. I am really new in real estate but when I saw this property this idea came to my mind. Is building a property a good idea or do you guys prefer to buy existent property? Any other ideas of what can be done with this type of property? Thank you.

Jessica Sandoval · Answer

Hi Syed,

Well, that's my case a newbie with no experience in RE.  I'll better go after buying existent properties and focus on finding a deal. Thank you for your sharing!

Syed H. · Answer

Building is one of the riskiest paths in REI. If you have no experience either working in or investing in RE, I wouldn’t attempt It for your first deal.

Even if you have experience, most deals do not pencil out.

Jessica Sandoval · Answer

Hi Nick, Tyler, thank you for your posts. I would say this is a B neighborhood with single-family houses around. Will explore the townhome idea but as Tyler said, new construction can be very expensive.

Tyler Weaver · Answer

Seeing what zoning will allow is the first step.  Sometimes you can get a variance if you can convince the city the project should get a variance or perhaps a zoning overlay.  That is typically very challenging.

Another possibility beyond multi family is townhomes.

Nick Giulioni · Answer

New construction can be very expensive. Do you know what it is zoned for?