All Forum Posts by: Eric Teran

@Chris Musano I just realized you said a duplex or triplex. In some areas you don’t need an Architect until it is more than four units. In theory you could do the design yourself or maybe find a design-build firm. There or pros and cons to using a design-build firm. Just make sure that they are using someone competent to draw the plans.

@Chris Musano I think you are putting the cart before the horse. For a multi family project there is a lot that goes on and a builder will not give you a price without plans. They have no idea what needs to be built, the design, level of finishes, utilities, etc.

If zoning is okay the next step is to find an Architect as most municipalities will require one for multi family. If you can find one with this type of experience it will be better. They will know some contractors. During the design process a contractor may be brought in to provide rough estimates to make sure the project is within budget.

Good luck.

@Benjamin A Ersing I used to go every two years to see my grandparents in Ecuador who lived two blocks away from Estadio Olimpico. Both condos are in Quito. One is a block from el Parque Carolina and the other is a block from Parque Itchimbia with an amazing view to the historic center. In the condo near el Parque Carolina we get more visitors from other parts of Ecuador and Souther America who do business, school, or trips to visit family. The other condo is much more for tourists from other countries. Until COVID hit we were cash flowing about $400 a month. Now both condo boards put new rules that we can only rent for a minimum of one month. We have one place rented for the next year but the other is vacant. 

I do agree with @Account Closed about appreciation and currencies. Luckily, Ecuador uses the American Dollar so we are fine there. However, the appreciation is not as great and there is always risk of the government not being stable. Our Ecuador properties mainly rent on Airbnb so all the money we make is deposited in an American bank account. We do not have to move any money across borders. Once we sell the properties then that money will stay in Ecuadorian investments because the taxes to move currencies of that amount is around 40% to 50%. Actually, in the next year or two, both condos will be paid 100% and we are planning on leveraging them to buy an additional three to five units. 

At this point, any money we make in our daily jobs and our basement Airbnb we plan to use for investments in the DC region.

I know my area in Northern Virginia does not classify my home as a modular home. The city only cares about the size and how much to tax me. The appraisers only want to know how many bedrooms, bathrooms, fireplaces, and if there is a finished basement. I don't know what each municipality or state requires but the only time it was known that the house was modular was when I submitted the plans to the city to get a building permit. Also, the day it was delivered and installed in a day. If you look at my house there is no way to tell it is modular. As @John Teachout mentions there are some features that show it may be modular but you have to know what you are looking for. There also has to be access to see it. My basement is finished and my mating walls only look like thicker walls. 

I wouldn't worry about it being appraised for a different value. Build a house that is suitable for the area and it will appraise accordingly. My house has. 

@Whitney L. Cooper I to live in Washington DC and own two condos and a jungle house in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador. My wife as well as my parents are from there and we both have a lot of family living there. My wife’s cousin and sister manage the apartment locally and we have known the cleaning lady for over ten years. We mainly rent on Airbnb, word of mouth, and some Facebook travel postings. It definitely helps knowing the areas and having people that we can trust take care of the day to day.

In regards to financing as the other have mentioned no bank or lender in the US will give a loan to buy a foreign property. Their reasoning as I was told is that they do not have the resources to be owners of a foreign property. Instead we took out personal loans and used our credit cards. This can be dangerous. If you try a local bank in a foreign country they may not loan it to you if you can’t prove any employment or credit history in that country. Additionally down payments and interest rates may be high.

Good luck.

@Justin Lester there are a lot of questions that need to be asked.

How big is the cellar? Do you have to drop the slab to get to a 7’-0” clearance? How deep are the footings? Is this going to be converted to a rental as an accessory unit or into a two dwelling flat (the zone will determine which one you can do)? Is it still going to remain a single family and you want to add some rooms? Do the rooms need egress? Where in DC is this? I can go on but you get the point.

Depending what you do you may be able to do it per @Russell Brazil estimates but you will need to be your own Contractor or already have a crew. For my clients with similar projects that hire contractors I see estimates between $75k to $175k. Right now builders have not slowed down and materials are in short supply driving up costs.

Give us more information about the project and we can have a better idea on costs.

@David Edwards good to see this project is still moving forward. My concern is that the construction cost is going to go up if you have to remobilized a construction crew every few months. For example, with modular you need a crane. A crane may cost $10k a day at the site. If the 12 units are built at once the job will be done in three days. If they are divided the crane will have to be there for more days and make more trips to and from the site. The same goes for paving, utilities, and so forth.

Why not build the 12 units in 5 months and start collecting rent on all the units sooner? Of course, this is a lot more money upfront but at least there is less stress of trying to refinance numerous times and quickly. I would make sure one bank provides all the refinancing loans and have it in writing.

Keep us posted.

@Joe Splitrock whatever you do do not get a color like red or something that cannot wash with everything else. We once bought red towels because it looked great with the decoration but we soon realized we had to wash it separate if there were other colors or white. A few times we had to do one wash for only one towel. Not very efficient. Live and learn.

I agree with the three sets. For our basement unit we only have two but that is because we do the laundry right away as we live above so there is always a spare in case of an emergency.

@Mary Arobaga-Reardon I have a few questions for you. When you say double lot do you mean it is big enough to divide into two legal lots? What zone is it in? If you divide it into two lots is the existing home fall within the setbacks? Will the new lot be shaped so that a house can be built within the setbacks? Depending the zone the existing lot may allow for more than one residence. Is that a scenario you would consider?

I’ve looked at this for various clients in DC but none of them have pulled the trigger yet. The one I did in Maryland was a long process.

@Russell Brazil I’m sure you know that there are different types of surveys. The ones you are talking about are basically just the house located on the lot. Which is what this thread seems to be about. I couldn’t imagine it being that expensive unless there are no property corners or previous surveys. Then the deed has to be referenced and the property corner have to be set which will drive up the cost. That is why DC is in the low end for house location surveys. Everyone has done one. However, I have had surveys done in DC that have gone up to $5,000. It depends on what information you need. DC loves their trees and they all have to be surveyed. If the lot is on a hillside and the topography is needed it costs more. An ALTA survey in DMV for a house can be up to $8k but that rarely needs to happen.

Going back to the thread, get a house location survey. Nothing more or nothing less. It will show the property boundaries and where the house is located within it. This will also help if you ever decide to do an addition and there are setbacks.