Commercial to Residential

[droopy8869]

HI! This is my first possible wholesale! The story goes like this .
I have found said property in the DFW area.
Property has been sitting for 7 years with no buyers.
I have talked to the owner and he is willing to peruse an offer.
I have talked with the city and they say that it would be hard to change it from comm to res. The property is a half an acre.
It needs to be torn down.There are many possibilities with this property..
Not sure what I should do..
Any advice would be appreciated.. Thnx for reading..

[Rich_in_CT]

Why would you want to change it from comm to res?  Seems comm is almost always more valuable than res, people are usually fighting to change from res to comm.  Is this smack dab in the middle of a res neighborhood or something like that?

[droopy8869]

Thnx for the reply. You could say that! There are res properties and comm properties all around it. So are you saying I should just go ahead and do the deal? I'm not sure how to figure out comps since there is nothing to base it on..

[kdhastedt]

It's already been sitting for 7 years.  If you buy it, what will you do with it?  It has some sort of structure on it that you would presumably tear down...then, you'll have vacant land.  Then what...?


Keith

[Rich_in_CT]

I'm not saying its a go for it deal just because it's commercial but I wouldn't necessarily be looking to switch it to residential.  As for whether you should buy it the decision lies with what your plan for the property is?  If the owner couldn't sell it for 7 yrs why do you think you can buy it and resell at a higher price?  What are your plans once you own it?

[droopy8869]

Thnx.. My idea was to change it to res and build a 3/2 frame house on it.. The city says it would be hard to change to res even though there are houses all around it.

[Rich_in_CT]

Well if you can't change the zoning you are stuck with a peice of land that is probably too small to build anything commericial on like a strip mall.  What was there previously?

[droopy8869]

On the half acre there's a 2 room shack that used to be a beauty shop.You can't do anything on either side.It's on a corner lot with a house behind it.   

[Rich_in_CT]

If you knocked it down what's the feasibility of getting a building permit to build something like a small convenience store?  Using current zoning regs would it get approved?  If that was built would you be able to find a tenant for it?  I don't know your area or local laws so you'll have to do your homework.  Consult with the zoning dept and a good commerical real estate broker.  COMMERCIAL broker, not a residential broker that does a little commericial.

[droopy8869]

Conv store probably wouldn't work cause there everywhere.
Maybe a beer store would plus this area just became wet,
it's been dry forever.  There is alot of traffic on this road.

[Rich_in_CT]

Just became wet?  Not sure I understand what you're saying.

[droopy8869]

I'm in Tx.
There are alot of dry areas where they do not sell any beer or wine. Alcohol is only sold downtown.When an area becomes wet they can sell beer and wine just not the hard stuff.
So that has possibilities.. 

[Rich_in_CT]

OH MY GOD!!!!  PROHIBITION IS BACK!!!  I better stock up fast!!!  LOL  I can't believe it's like that in TX, I thought only Utah was like that.  Yeah, if there aren't many stores like that yet you might want to try building a small store front and getting one to lease from you. 

[droopy8869]

Yeah it's a great idea.I have no money for startup that is why I'm trying to do some wholesales my self to possibly get into that.
My plans are layed out just no money yet..
Thnx for the advice though..

[kdhastedt]

LOL...you need to get out more, Rich.  Dry counties are a way of life in a lot of the South and some of the West!

It wasn't that long ago that a lot of the east coast still had "Blue Laws" and you couldn't sell alcohol on Sunday.

Keith