building permit... or lack thereof. help pls! - Posted by Tim Kimball

Real Estate Investing
1

Posted by Tim Kimball on December 03, 2002 at 20:11:17:

oh, we’ve reduced the price accordingly… for sure.

2

building permit… or lack thereof. help pls! - Posted by Tim Kimball

Posted by Tim Kimball on December 03, 2002 at 19:39:23:

here’s the deal…

I’m looking into buying a property that has 2 small houses on it. They are both small, 1br/1ba. the previous owner was getting $600/mo for the front house & $465/mo. for the back house. the original asking price was $89.9k, (which I thought was high) but I got the price down to $80k with all the furnishings included. The appraisal came in around $65k-$68k (funny, because that was real close to my initial estimate) Now, there is some question about whether the back house was built with the proper permits. If the back house was built illeagally, what can I do? I still think it would be a good investment, so is there a way to get that back building approved so that its not out of compliance?

3

Re: building permit… or lack thereof. help pls! - Posted by annieNC

Posted by annieNC on December 03, 2002 at 22:07:41:

You may want to check with your local code enforcement office to see what, if any, permits they have on file for the property. In my area a certificate of occupancy has to be issued from the code office before permanent electric service can be connected, and the property occupied. I definately would not take the sellers word for it. Do the leg work to find out if it is legal. Good Luck!

4

I know of a similar situation… - Posted by David Krulac

Posted by David Krulac on December 03, 2002 at 20:04:43:

a contractor lived in the front house and built a nice all brick house in the back without a permit. it was completed before the city got wind. they made him keep it vacant and have not allowed him to rent it for over 20 years!

I have heard of other cases where the city have dug in their heels and made the owner tear down the unpermitted structure as being unsafe because it was not built up to code.

Your town may be much more lax and could even say nothing, but if it were me I’d find out before settlement. And I wouldn’t pay $80k for a property worth $65 either.

David Krulac
Central Pennsylvania