I was thinking about flipping a house in Galveston County but probably cant because of a 50% rule.
It states that you cant remodel a building either res. or com. Unless you only spend 50% of the appraised value or less per year.
The houses I want are only valued at about $50000. and need a lot more than $25000 to get them imto shape. There are a lot of fish camps around here but not a lot af land. Most of them have been abandonded.
Is it like this anwhere else in the BT world? This is the first I’ve heard of this.
It sounds counter productive to me.
Replies
Calendar year, or year from purchase? If it's calendar year, buy in November/December, spend half one year, half after Jan 1st. If it's from purchase, can you wait it out that long?
I'm not sure. I'll have to find out.
If it pans out, that is an excellent idea.
It is calendar year. Looks like I'm in bussiness.
This case might be comparing "apples to oranges", but you might consider it...
A fellow in Ft. Worth, Tex. applied for a permitt to build a 40X60' building. It cost him $300. He became ill and couldn't finish the building until he regained his health. He is about to restart his project, but he found the permitt was stamped "Valid for 6 months", which means it has expired. To my knowledge he hasn't asked about this because he's afraid he'll have to pay another $300...
Does the permit you're getting have a time limit?
Bill
In Ohio, public funds can't be used to renovate existing schools if the renovation costs go beyond a percentage of the appraised price of the building. But this is only if public funds are used.
i can't imagine why a municipality would care what a homeowner or business spends on their own property.
IMO it is just to collect more money on permits.
That's a possibility.
Here, a zoning/building consultation used to be free. Now that the city has implemented a self-sufficiency policy for its own departments, a consult is somewhere around $85/hour. Permits have shot up ridiculously also.
The purpose of the use of percentages is is to encourage bringing structures to meet current codes before that building is passed on to an unsuspecting third party or so that in theory all properties in a jurisdiction will be either torn down for a new "compliant structure" or in the case of renovations of existing structure it will be brought up to"compliance".
I can see what your talking about to a point.
Where I live though, the inspectors have no problem making sure it is up to code no matter how big the job. If you do an add-on here the elec. & plumb. (all elec. and plumb.) in the whole house is brought up to code.
I was told that I could pull a permit in Nov. and then again in Jan. for a total of 100% total eval.
I'm guessing it's to keep people from buying a house, tearing down all but one wall, and putting up a McMansion, in order to get around zoning rules.
Yeah, that would make sense I guess. The only thing thats got me wondering is that the building dept. will not make me stop construction in Jan. Just need to get a new permit.
They probably figure everyone's gonna pull that trick -- they consider the real limit to be 100%.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I suspect the intent of the rule may be to eventually eliminate houses that someone has concluded are located in a place where houses should be discouraged, i.e. on the beach, too close to sea level, etc. Tom Rush wrote a song about what happens in Galveston when the weather gods get angry.
Yeah, that's a specific case of the general zoning issue. If more recent zoning/building restrictions would not allow the house to be built to it's current size (or current elevation, etc), then they don't want you to effectively tear it down and rebuild unless you meet the new requirements.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Thats 80% of the buildings down here. Most have been through 4 decades of hurricanes from Carla to Rita. Some even made it through the one in 1900. The ones that were substandard have already fallen.
There is also a 50% rule set forth by FEMA in 44R regarding substantial improvements for homes in the Special Flood Hazard Areas. It is normally enforced by the AHJ (i.e. the local building dept).
It deals with the imporvement of homes both out of necessity (repairs) and voluntary like an addition or remodel with homes that are not built to the Base Flood Elevation.
It is a nationwide federal law but not everyone is in the flood zone and even then not everywhere enforces it.
Mike
Hey Mike, good to see you again.
That explains a lot then as this is only 100 yds from the beach on the gulf coast. Probably 2 feet above sea level so it is a definite flood zone. It is on the penisula in Texas. Galveston bay on the north side is 100' away. You can throw a rock from the gulf to the bay at this location.
I may have to call on you for some help if it goes through because I know next to nothing on coastal building.
FEMA has excellent books and other publications on building in costal and flood plain areas, including mitigation. Check out FEMA.gov
These publications are free and contain excellent ideas( not really free as your taxes have already paid for them)from builders, architects and engineers with FEMA .
All I ever Needed to Know I learned in Kindergarten- Robt. Fulghum
Yes, it especially confuses alot of folks here in Florida as they may be under the rule based on their location being low in elevation yet miles from any real body of water!
Call if you need to 813-830-1674 or email me directly at [email protected]
Mike
Thanks Mike, I'll do that.