4 Or 5 Units?

[Dublin ohio]

if its 4 now and its not supposed to be a 4 isnt it illegal anyway for being altered even to a lesser extent

Is there something in the zoning that prohibits a 4 unit? If not. Did your HBU analysis conclude 5 unit is best use? As far as being altered. That would probably be a building dept. issue. Unpermitted work maybe? It seems from your posts that you don not know how many units there are yet. Too many "what ifs".

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

BTW, you need to measure all the external walls, then on the interior inspection allocate all the space into the what the units comprise on your exterior sketch.

The exterior doesn't look that hard to measure. I don't see any corners that are not 90 degree angle. But dividing it up into units can be time consuming.
Gimme a nice 2 story 4 plex with all units the same. Also gimme comps, and I am good.
Except for the dang no shows.

 

[DanBuck]

If a kitchen has been altered, is there an extra bathroom? Based on what I have seen locally, the tax assessor might believe there are five units in a property, based on some original plans going back many years, however, only four units were actually built. Bottom line, the bank and the appraiser want to determine what is actually in existence, as opposed to what a third party thinks is in existence. If you find there are four units on the site, discuss the five unit misconception, then value the existing four units. One paragraph should suffice. BTW, you need to measure all the external walls, then on the interior inspection allocate all the space into the what the units comprise on your exterior sketch.

Btw is it a bad idea to get involved with the town inspector and building dept in general. it can open a can of worms-i never like doing that..

 

[DanBuck]

If a kitchen has been altered, is there an extra bathroom? Based on what I have seen locally, the tax assessor might believe there are five units in a property, based on some original plans going back many years, however, only four units were actually built. Bottom line, the bank and the appraiser want to determine what is actually in existence, as opposed to what a third party thinks is in existence. If you find there are four units on the site, discuss the five unit misconception, then value the existing four units. One paragraph should suffice. BTW, you need to measure all the external walls, then on the interior inspection allocate all the space into the what the units comprise on your exterior sketch.

Btw is it a bad ide to get involved with the town inspector and building dept in general. it can open a can of worms-i never like doing that..

The exterior doesn't look that hard to measure. I don't see any corners that are not 90 degree angle. But dividing it up into units can be time consuming.
Gimme a nice 2 story 4 plex with all units the same. Also gimme comps, and I am good.
Except for the dang no shows.

There are a couple rounded angles lol

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

There are a couple rounded angles lol

Then it gets harder. Look at the aerial views, it can help to see the shape of things.
Take your time, measure twice or thrice, don't cut at all.

I always look ahead of time now. I once asked for and got an increased fee simply because the house was shaped like a W.
Hard to measure, I was there maybe 2 hours. Cool place though. Glad it was not units.

 

[DanBuck]

Is there something in the zoning that prohibits a 4 unit? If not. Did your HBU analysis conclude 5 unit is best use? As far as being altered. That would probably be a building dept. issue. Unpermitted work maybe? It seems from your posts that you dont not know how many units there are yet. Too many "what ifs".

It is located in a commercial district that would allow a 5 unit-just another indicator. I'm still not equipped with a solid way or hints to know for sure if he illegally combined the units-lol.

Also today i told the guy its okay if your not present for this second inspection-he insisted on being there even though we already went through one.

 

[DTB]

This guy is shrewd. Shrewd enough to give to give notice to the tenants that on 9AM Thursday he will need to do some work in their unit and let himself in-IF HE WANTED TO.
I'm willing to bet it's 5 units. Couldn't read the electric meters but did you see any electric baseboard heat in the place?

Old beater properties like this one are the kind that I always put in electric baseboard heat instead of individual furnaces or space heaters. No maintenance and they last 40 years. Cheap to install, expensive to operate.

I will wager that you don't get into all the units and they look for a more inexperienced appraiser to go along with the program.

If ti was 5 units and converted to 4, I'd look for a unit with 2 baths. Totally atypical for this old rental. Kitchen is easy to disassemble but nobody removes a bath! They can charge more rent!

 

[DanBuck]

This guy is shrewd. Shrewd enough to give to give notice to the tenants that on 9AM Thursday he will need to do some work in there unit and let himself in-IF HE WANTED TO.
I'm willing to bet it's 5 units. Couldn't read the electric meters but did you see any electric baseboard heat in the place?

Old beater properties like this one are the kind that I always put in electric baseboard heat instead of individual furnaces or space heaters. No maintenance and they last 40 years. Cheap to install, expensive to operate.

I will wager that you don't get into all the units and they look for a more inexperienced appraiser to go along with the program.

If it was 5 units and converted to 4, I'd look for a unit with 2 baths. Totally atypical for this old rental. Kitchen is easy to disassemble but nobody removes a bath! They can charge more rent!

Yes its funny come to think of it theres baseboard heating in only one of the units. What could this mean?

Thanks for the tip about the extra bathroom..

 

[DTB]

Yes its funny come to think of it theres baseboard heating in only one of the units. What could this mean?

Thanks for the tip about the extra bathroom..

Was that unit the 1st floor center apartment per chance?
You have 6 breaker boxes with the smallest one for 1st floor center. This may be an add on for the electric heat. The other boxes are full size, not needed for a common area in that type of building. Couple of hall and porch lights?

Maybe Rex can weigh in.

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

I'm reminded of an old friend that has a 100 yo apt building in Chicago with a uh, variable number of units.

/hijack