Commercial Misc. Properties ? - Posted by Jay

Posted by Jay on March 08, 2001 at 17:52:48:

I just meant that my buyers, would rather me not bring them these types of properties.

Commercial Misc. Properties ? - Posted by Jay

Posted by Jay on March 08, 2001 at 24:38:13:

I have recieved a few calls from owners of vacant houses (some condemned), the problem that i’m having is they are zoned Commercial misc, so most of my buyers will take a past, are these types of properties worth working w/ at some level??

Thanks again, and I hope you’re having a Great Day!
Jay

Re: Commercial Misc. Properties ? - Posted by Wayne (MD)

Posted by Wayne (MD) on March 08, 2001 at 05:01:59:

You wrote: “…the problem that i’m having is they are zoned Commercial misc, so most of my buyers will take a past. . .”

Forgive my ignorance – still learning – but what is a “past”?

Re: Commercial Misc. Properties ? - Posted by KR-(AZ)

Posted by KR-(AZ) on March 08, 2001 at 01:13:15:

Absolutely.

Although I deal mostly in multi-unit housing, I spend a certain percentage of my time doing what I call “special projects”.

For example, a broker recently called a specific ad I run to generate projects.

Here was the scenario. There was a building zoned commercial (it had been a Montessori School for 40 years), but now had million dollar houses spread throughout the entire area.

The current owner could not get the HOA for the neighborhood to let him build apartments there (but don’t ask me why he didn’t think to ask it to be rezoned).

He did not know what to do, so he listed it, knowing it might be worth around 350k-375k (the price of a normal-sized lot around there)

I went down to the city planning and zoning and played a “what if” game with them regarding residential zoning. They brainstormed the answer with me before I ever spent a dime.

Final score?

They allowed the lot to be split and flagged, (with the second sewer running down the stem), I got both lots re-addressed (to the street with the higher-profile name),I gave up 25ft of Right-of-way and agreed to have new sidewalks built. The resulting lot to be subdivided was a little less than 48k sq.ft., so they agreed (but not guaranteed) to approve a variance (allowing each R-24 lot) to be slightly undersized.

I made variance approval contingencies in my contract and had both lots sold to a home-builder before I bought it (it ended up being six-figures in profits for each of us).

Lesson: Work with zoning and planning. (But your buying area is still going to dictate if you should even be looking.). Your city would rather help you with a solution than see another crackhouse develop.

So zoning shouldn’t be the issue, but area should.

p.s. The reason nobody snagged the prime real estate is because it was listed as a vacant commercial building. People searching that area are either looking for expensive homes or vacant lots. Searching the MLS would have kept this property out of those results (although we turned it into a vacant lot by tearing it down for just over $22k)

Take care.

One other thing. If it is surround by other commercial properties you might get the owner to deed it to you (or even sell for a token $500) and you can re-sell to a bordering commercial property owner who might benefit. Let them take care of the knockdown themselves.