All Forum Posts by: Larry Tanner

You don't have to make up an address for land you own.  The address is on your deed.  As for getting mail to a vacant lot, that is a question for the post office.  Tell them you are building a house at XXX Mulberry lane and you want to start USPS service on it before the home is finished.  See what they tell you.  If they approve, set up your mailbox (they might even tell you exactly where it must be placed) and then never build a house on it.

I forgot to mention, as far as the alley is concerned, it is city-owned and cannot be bought.  And I did ask about joining my home's lot with the vacant lot, they say "no can do" because of the alley separating the 2 properties.

I think it's going to take a lot of legal fees to get the city to allow me to do anything.  That's the way it is around here, unfortunately.  It's very incestuous.  There are folks around here that know the "right people" and seem be able to do whatever they want/need.  I'm not one of those people, unfortunately.

 Aaah.  I understand.  Might be worth looking into.  It's EXTREMELY hard dealing with the Zoning people in in my city.  Very hard to get answers to questions.  But I will have to try, try again.

My preferred goal is to not sell it as I know it is not worth much.  I prefer to actually do something with it that can bring in revenue.  If all the revenue does is pay for the taxes and maintenance, then I will consider it worth keeping for at least the next 20 years.

That's no the case with this property.  My great uncle built the house I live in and bought that vacant lot at the same time.  He never developed it because he used it for pleasure (big garden, picnic parties, etc.).  

What happened later, after he died and right before it was left to me by his wife (my great aunt), that big highway was put in and the govt took a good portion of the land.  Then, after the project was complete, they gave some of it back (the embankment).  essentially, the land used to be worth something as it was able to be developed.  But when the road came through, that seemed to have really ruined it's potential.  My great aunt got a bad deal because they paid her for the land, but they did not pay for for the loss of potential lol.  Eminent Domain is great!

Never tried, but after a church is built, not much room left for parking, really.

Also, we have a HUGE amount of abandoned churches in the city so I have doubts this is a good idea.  But what do I know?

 The alley is paved on my portion of the property but only because I paved it about 15 years ago.  It needs repaved. I paved it because I have a garage that is accessed via the alley.  I paved it because it was shale and hard to maintain.  The rest of it up to the dead end is now weedy turf that my neighbor maintains (used to be all shale at one time)  

I was hoping some sharp minds here could give me some ideas in my situation.

I own a vacant city lot in my city, it's right across the alley from my home.  I inherited it over 20 years ago and it's basically a liability more than anything (meaning, it costs me money with no prospect of making me money).  Taxes are cheap (less than $100 a year) but I have to spend time with upkeep.

Here are the details of the land and what I have looked into to monetize it (and failed), with a diagram in case that helps.

Land details:

• Zoned Residential
• Situated next to (but below) the busiest road in my city.
• About 8,000 sq ft (with about 1/5th being an embankment)
• Irregular shape/contour
• No utilities at this time.

Monetization I have looked into (and failed)...

• Build a small home on it and rent it. 
  NOT ALLOWED. City will not allow development of a home on the lot.
• Rent space to billboard company - Called 2 billboard companies
  NOT ALLOWED - city does not allow any new billboards to be erected inside the city limits.
• Build multi-bay garage and rent each bay out for car storage
  NOT ALLOWED - local law prohibits erecting of secondary structures without a primary structure.
• Rent to seasonal businesses like flower tents, local farmer, etc. Land is not 100% ideal for this (you will see in the diagram, it sit below the major artery road) but any rent would be worth considering.
  NOT ALLOWED - property not zoned commercial.

If any of you have any suggestions on how to monetize such a property, I'd love to hear them.  I'm fresh out of any ideas at this point.

Here's a diagram of the lot in case that helps...

Just tell yourself, "It's not a tattoo, it's body art" and you will find it easier to accept.  

That's what the media says, so it must be true.

LOL.  Most renters don't understand that renting is a financial transaction.  They think it's charity work and landlords are rich.  But then, most people think that all small business owners are rich, not understanding that many make less than minimum wage.  When you tell them, they don't believe it.  They think that if you own a business, you are part of some secret society of privileged class.

-Who mows the lawn?

- Mowing the lawn is your responsibility and will need to be done once a week, every week.  I inspect it weekly.

- Oh, OK.  Is it OK if I just dig up the green stuff so it doesn't have to be mowed anymore?

Hey, at least she asked first.