All Forum Posts by: Matthew Nelson

Quote from @Ronald Rohde:

If your demand is there, I like indoor car parking.

 The demand is here for it in our area.

Another plus side is I'm able to look at the nice cars, haha.

Quote from @Henry Clark:

Need more info on location.  Population, vehicles per day, turn in/out lanes out front, neighboring properties, parking spaces, extra land, etc.

We are in Storage.  You will get far more money as a Flex building.

Door height and Ceiling clearance height dictates usage.

I'm over in Northeast Pennsylvania.. think Scranton.
We're able to provide goods to 40% of the U.S within one day from any warehousing close to our major highway systems.

The property itself is located in a somewhat residential area on a main street w/ a city population of 44K.
The area is more lower class but I live in the area & I've seen an improvement within the last five years.
There's plenty of car traffic, not so much pedestrian.
I haven't measured the ceiling height but we're somewhere around 15-20 feet.
We have drive up parking space in the back of the building - enough for about five cars (+/-) at a time.
We do have a mix of residential & commercial neighbors.

Would you recommend going with car storage or should I frame out additional storage spaces in the front half of the building?

Congratulations. I'll see you in 2026.

This sounds like a total headache so I recommend speaking with a local real estate attorney. 

They'd be able to point ya in the right direction.. best of luck.

I've been through a fair share of homes and there's a few signs of shoddy work.

- Uneven floors / Soft spots.. typically it is a easy repair most of the time when you're already replacing the floor

- Messy wiring in the breaker box.. most electricians take pride in their work and if it's messy it's a good sign of handyman grade rewire

- Bad circuits.. a tester is $10-$20 and can save you thousands

- Painted over issues such as termite damage & water marks.. check for the cause of the damage

You'll also need a general knowledge of construction to better understand & spot things such as plumbing, wiring, foundation, & septic issues.. most of the time things are hidden.

If I were you I'd get an inspection or a contractor to walk the property with you - good luck.

Hey,

I am currently under contract on a commercial space w/ over 9,000 SQ.FT - high-quality block & brick construction, stage three electric, new rubber roof, etc.

I believe it was most recently used as a retail store judging by a old walk-up counter in the front of the building... the building requires slight work w/ an estimation of $25K on the extreme end.

The building is split in half w/ a stick framed wall causing a split of about (43 X 60) on the side closer to the street w/ a (10 X 10) office space that has a bathroom, as well as an additional (5 X 6) bathroom accessible from the entire front portion of the building.

The back half of the building measures (30 X 70) w/ an additional framed wall in the back for an additional (10 X 70) storage space... the back half of the building has a second story walkout & walk-down access to the basement.

Additionally, there is a basement sized (43X41) w/ an exterior walkout.

I intend on putting this building out in phases....

- The first being converting the (10 X 70) space into seven (10 X 10) storage spaces aimed for paper storage for professional offices such as title companies, real estate brokerages, etc... the income from this will cover the seller financing note I have on the property.

- After that, it's to the front of the building... there's a few general renovation tasks that I won't bore you with but I will be putting a garage door in the front of the building to make this space indoor car storage for at least fifteen cars... this portion of the building isn't over the basement but I'll wait until a structural engineer gives me the okay before I start this project.

- I'll also be putting a front door on that (10 X 10) space when we're adding the garage door to have the option to rent it out but I'm most likely going to keep the space for myself.

- Once complete w/ the front of the building I'm likely going to mirror the storage setup onto the other side of the building in the back partition... I will combine the hallway & storage space found in the front & back of the building so I'm able to reclaim space & mirror the room's storage spaces.

- Lastly, the basement... I don't have anything set in stone yet but I would add either a warehousing tenant (there's drive-up access to the back of the building) or two apartments... I'd have to figure out the costs of adding an apartment in a basement, which I haven't done quite yet... zoning is not a concern.

- - - - -

Well, what would you do? I'm not really asking for advice as much as I'd like to see there be a conversation on this thread... this is a lot of space & I think creativity can flow on commercial projects, which is why I like them so much.

I'll attach the floorplan but keep in mind that they aren't 100% accurate, these LiDAR scanners aren't perfect yet so that's why the square footage is off at the bottom... I'm using it more as a visual.