Buying vacant lots

[OKRICHLAND]

Hello everyone, OKRICHLAND here.
Does anyone know of easy ways to acquire vacant lots?
How does a person go about finding the owner and buying the lot.
Obviously, it wouldn't show up on the county property assessor web site, so when you seeone, how do you find the owner and set the price?

I have a two bedroom that I am going to convert into a three bedroom.
It's less than 1,000 s/f.
It is in fair condition but the neighborhood is extremely Lower class (poor).
I think that I would like to move the house a few miles away and put it in a neighborhood that is going up in value.
Is this advisable on an older house of this size?

Thanks in advance.
Dave R.

[Dan Auito]

Super Dave, I have some ideas on the raw land so read the attachment below on that, as for moving a smaller older home into an existing neighborhood, you have to weigh all the factors of doing it.

I guess I could try to name a few;
Would the city allow it?
Is there a homeowners group that would protest it at a hearing?
Is the home really worth moving, what would be the profit$$$?
Who would agree to move it? and how much?
What type of foundation and utility infrastructures would be needed?
Is there an impact fee and would you have to pay it?
What would you do with the raw lot that now has no home on it?
Is the home sound enough to withstand the move and how far is it? Moving houses sometimes involves closing off streets and dealing with power lines and street lights which may prohibit this entirely.

Check out the attached for further insights. Next

[OKRICHLAND]

Super Dave, I have some ideas on the raw land so read the attachment below on that, as for moving a smaller older home into an existing neighborhood, you have to weigh all the factors of doing it.

I guess I could try to name a few;
Would the city allow it?
Is there a homeowners group that would protest it at a hearing?
Is the home really worth moving, what would be the profit$$$?
Who would agree to move it? and how much?
What type of foundation and utility infrastructures would be needed?
Is there an impact fee and would you have to pay it?
What would you do with the raw lot that now has no home on it?
Is the home sound enough to withstand the move and how far is it? Moving houses sometimes involves closing off streets and dealing with power lines and street lights which may prohibit this entirely.

Check out the attached for further insights. Next
Awesome Dan!
I have copied it to a word document.
The house is in a predominantly Spanish neighborhood.
I am not sure if the move would be worth it or not.
The information that you gave me will play a factor in the making of that decision.
I may try to sell it to a Spanish speaking family although, I don't play the game of selling a slum house to a family just because they are a minority that may not have a whole lot of choices in this country.
If I do sell the house, the new family will be given one of the better houses in the neighborhood.
People are people and everyone deserves to live in a neat and clean environment, no matter what their income factor is.

I have worked on HUD housing projects and I have seen just how those children have to live.

Not my people!

Nothing but the best for the best.... :thumbsup:

Dan here stepping into your post Dave. That raw land piece is in the book you nut. Now I know you didn't read the whole thing Heh Heh Heh.

[CharleyB]

Dave;
Dan covered the issue very well concerning moving houses but I'll add my part.
I have worked as an engineer on a few projects that involved moving buildings and from my experience, if the building isn't nearly free in cost it isn't worth moving. A couple of years ago I did some analysis for a client who had aquired a quite large, two-story historic plantation house for FREE, he just had to move it. We estimated that by the time we did what was necessary to stabilize the structure for moving, buy the permits, bonds & insurance and pay the mover it was not feasible to move the house just 15 blocks. It was really kind of sad because the house was built in 1820 and was in amazingly good condition.
Just a story from my side of the fence.
All the Best,
CharleyB

[OKRICHLAND]

Dave;
Dan covered the issue very well concerning moving houses but I'll add my part.
I have worked as an engineer on a few projects that involved moving buildings and from my experience, if the building isn't nearly free in cost it isn't worth moving. A couple of years ago I did some analysis for a client who had aquired a quite large, two-story historic plantation house for FREE, he just had to move it. We estimated that by the time we did what was necessary to stabilize the structure for moving, buy the permits, bonds & insurance and pay the mover it was not feasible to move the house just 15 blocks. It was really kind of sad because the house was built in 1820 and was in amazingly good condition.
Just a story from my side of the fence.
All the Best,
CharleyB
Charley, I just might take your advice on this one.
They want from 12 to $15,000 to move it.
My profit margin would be $0
although, wouldn't it be neat to find a niche where a person bought houses in low class neighborhoods and moved then 5 miles to middle class neighborhoods.

I wonder if that's feasible, if that was all you did? :SM113:

Thanks for the input.
Dave R.

[Dan Auito]

Dave, if you can find older homes on water front lots that are getting torn down to make room for the new million dollar babies then you can often barge them over to an area with less demand and park them on less desirable waterfront for a song. Think about that too! :SM042:

[OKRICHLAND]

Dave, if you can find older homes on water front lots that are getting torn down to make room for the new million dollar babies then you can often barge them over to an area with less demand and park them on less desirable waterfront for a song. Think about that too! :SM042:
Point well taken. :beard: