Appraising a detached condo in California

[Webbed Feet]

What he did is he bought an existing house on a relatively large piece of land (the lots in Berkeley are usually fairly deep), tore down the existing structure, and built 2 detached "houses" on the land. Our neighbor's "house" sits in the front with a driveway the leads into a shared carport in the middle, and our "house" sits at the back of the lot. I suppose he made more money selling 2 detached condos as opposed to 1 house.

Unfortunately, there's not really anything like it in Berkeley, and that makes the exercise of appraising difficult (and a headache for me when trying to get it re-financed). I might just be stuck waiting until the market goes up since the most "relevant" comps that come up are condo complexes that are lower in value right now.

And, you just posted why you and the other property owner need to question why either of you want to stay in a condominium form of ownership. Worse, if one of you rents the "project" just became 50% tenant occupied. Research that one and lending.

 

[quickly323]

I've seen that before in Southern California. Weird that they wouldn't approve a lot split but would approve a condominium project. There must be some technicality involved that we aren't aware of.

Just curious, do you know when the original house was built and when the condominiums were built? Around here, that would have typically been the 20's and then redeveloped in the early 70's.

I'm not sure when it was originally built, but the redevelopment wasn't until 2002...

 

[David Mescon]

I'm not familiar with your local zoning codes, however, I do have substantial experience with similar property types in other areas. In my personal experience, such "projects" are generally created as they are the most cost effective method for increasing a property's intensity, more specifically, in this instance, density. Standards for such things as setbacks and the permissible number of units per acre are generally more relaxed for condominium developments than they are for single family development.

 

[Webbed Feet]

I'm not familiar with your local zoning codes, however, I do have substantial experience with similar property types in other areas. In my personal experience, such "projects" are generally created as they are the most cost effective method for increasing a property's intensity, more specifically, in this instance, density. Standards for such things as setbacks and the permissible number of units per acre are generally more relaxed for condominium developments than they are for single family development.

Completely agreed. It was all about maximizing profits using any tactic possible to get around what was the then current zoning regulations. Unfortunately for the buyers, who often are not versed at all in the repercussions of ownership in such circumstances, the developer was taking hit and run profits and pretty much could of cared less about what happens regarding the long-term owner intention of any buyers.