Hi. I’m new to these forums, so forgive me if this is a topic that has been covered. I live in a highly desirable neighborhood in Minneapolis and need more space. Unfortunately, our present house has pretty much reached its maximum for a lot of reasons, and we are priced out of the larger homes in our area. So my husband and I are considering buying an up/down duplex (1920s era) and converting it to a single family. It seems to me that, with the right property, this could be ideal: infrastructure is already there, no need to build up or out, just need to reconfigure some interior spaces, staircases, etc. HOWEVER, I haven’t heard of many people doing this, and I think there must be a reason. What am I missing?
Has anyone had experience (good or bad) doing this? If so, do you have words of wisdom? Ideas? Things you wish you’d known? Suggestions for architects and/or builders who have worked on this type of project? I appreciate your input. Thanks,
Tobi
Replies
First thing I would suggest is checking w/your municipality to see if they will allow it. In my city, the government is encouraging this activity to bring down the population density. They will even give a grant to make this happen. There may be rules (it's government so there are ALWAYS rules) but it might be worth it.
Before you purchase a place, walk thru it w/an architect or designer who knows what you are looking for. It would be hell to buy a place and find out it will take you more money than it's worth and more time than you will be alive to accomplish it.
If you are a gardener, you can always put 'Plant Manager' on your resume. Unknown
grew up in mpls, the powderhorn park neighborhood, moved away. you say you live in a desirable neighborhood but want to buy... in the same neighborhood? If you live in a desirable neighborhood, could you not sell it for a premium and buy a larger home in a less desirable neighborhood? It would be hard for me to believe that a duplex would be more affordable, after converting to single family, then a single family.
For those who are not aware of pricing in mpls, and since you are anonymous here, what are your taxes? Square foot living space? real estate value?
I'm guessing that most people will be surprised at how low the taxes are for your square foot living space/real estate value. If you don't want to give your specifics, give a neighborhood avg.
Not to plug another magazine, but since it isn't a competitor:
There was a recent issue of Money magazine that discussed exactly what you are doing and for the same reasons. A duplex is frequently less expensive than a single family home of comparable size simply because it's a headache that many people don't want. I don't remember the specifics of the article, but if you look at the recent real estate issue at the library it might give you some help.
Thanks, this is really helpful. And thanks to everyone else who replied. I just hope we can stay ahead of the market curve!
I live in Minneapolis as well, in the Whittier neighborhood. There are a lot of those up/down duplexes around here, but I don't know of anyone who's converted them to single family houses - in fact, one guy on my block remodeled his attic into a third unit. I think they get quite a bit of revenue out of those places, rent is pretty high these days.
You may want to look around for houses that started out as single family dwellings that were converted to duplexes at some point in the past. There are a lot of large, grand old houses around here that were built between 1900 and 1920 or so that were converted to duplexes or triplexes (or even boarding houses) in the 1950s and 1960s; people have been buying them and restoring them back to single family houses again.
Someone else mentioned low real estate taxes. I can't speak for the whole town, but I know mine aren't cheap by any standard...real estate prices in Minneapolis-St. Paul have been going through the roof the last couple years.