All Forum Posts by: Joe Gutmann

The City may allow you to go for the zoning change using a letter of authorization (may be required to be notarized) if you have not purchased it yet. 

If you have purchased it I would also try to use the utility bills to show the 'grandfathered' use as well. Sometimes showing that the property has been paying the municipality for years with a different living unit count can help. This depends greatly on the city, the staff, and what they have done in the past. 

I have also seen financing be declined due to not being able to be rebuilt as is, due to being nonconforming with the current city code. This property had 3 homes built on a parcel where only 2 would be allowed today. I think a new set of buyers found financing, so that tells me that it depends on the lending institution and their acceptance of risk at underwriting. This again depends on the city.

To bring the unit into compliance down here you would most likely have to combine two of the units as the planning/zoning, bldg department, and maybe fire department (all where applicable, will depend on the city) dictate. Sometimes it may just be removing meters, knocking down a wall, placing a door, removing the range, etc. 

I have seen people purchase homes and were very surprised when it is in floodzones, not approved for the number of units it was listed as, and even that it was not in the City they thought it was in (we have properties that have a different city as their address, but fall under a different planning authority/city boundary). These details are simple to check, but real estate agents get them wrong all the time. It pays to do your own research above and beyond what they check.

Good Morning,

Anyone know a modular home builder in the Olympia area who does Multi-Family 4 unit homes utilizing a VA construction loan? I am trying to gauge the potential of this route, as modular construction appears to be cheaper than stick built. Thanks for any help and information you can provide!

Thank you for the reply jason, but modular homes are not manufactured/mobile homes. Modulars are built to the florida byilding code standards, not hud/dmv. I am not sure that modular homes have to be disclosed any differently than stick built but I will be checking with the lawyer on friday. 

So, after over 10 years of looking at properties and suffering from analysis from paralysis I finally am closing on my first rental at the end of this month. I am wondering about the opportunity of building modular homes (1-4 units) on vacant lots, and renting them out. Are any of you doing this or know if anyone doing this in our area? 

When I was a renter I did not care what type of home it was, and I assume no one else does either. So far it looks like modular homes can be purchased/constructed at cheaper rates than stick built, and I don't think they would rent differently. I am not looking to place them in higher end neighborhoods so customizing them would not be an issue. Anyone have any thoughts / advice on this tactic?

Thank you for your time!

My understanding with st pete is that if you want to do something with short term rentals like air bnb, is to do an actual bed and breakfast in an appropriately zoned area. You have to live in the residence as well, so I view it as more of a house hacking venture. I don't know if there is wiggle room on the owner living there or if the home could be leased to someone and they ran the bed and breakfast while being a long term tenant/resident of the property. I did not look that far into it.

The above are correct, read the code, call the planning or zoning departments if you need clarification, and you can talk with the code enforcement. They all want people to stay in compliance so most are willing to help.

Thank you @Brandon M.

Good Morning,

So far on the offers I have placed in Pinellas County, Insurance is proving to be an obstacle with the agents I have spoken to and the prices I have been quoted. State Farm will not do an umbrella policy because My father and I will both be on the loan/title (thinking of alternative ways to do this, advice would be great.) and they think it is too much exposure. 

Does anyone know of any insurance brokers/agents who they have worked with and can recommend? I am avoiding SFHA properties at the moment so flood insurance is not a worry. At the moment I am just hoping there are prices lower than what I have been exposed to. 3k a year for a 300k liability on a triplex changes the numbers a lot. It would be great if they ran quotes at a faster turn around than current turn around I am seeing as well, sometimes can take up to four days.

Hi Tom, 

There are a couple of resources for our local area that may be of help. We all wish you the best in your investments!

Check out the local events:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-events-an...

Local Forums:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/795-st-peters...

@Waverly Rennie, sounds good. The nice thing about Modular homes is they are built to the local building code standards while Manufactured homes are not (speaking in general terms, I am not an expert in the area there may be exceptions). In other words, manufactured homes have different land use classifications which restricts where they can go. If I remember correctly Tiny homes (at least in our area) are treated by municipalities as RV's or manufactured homes as they are generally built to DMV standards in order to be transported on the highways. This restricts them even further, but last word I heard was that they will be added to the Florida Building Code in roughly 3 years. Best of luck on your trip and meeting for coffee sounds good upon your return. Thank you for the info!

Thank you @Waverly Rennie, that is helpful. I have thought of investing in Manufactured home / Mobile homes for the STVR, have you looked into that instead of using the duplex's?