Present Land Use % question

[sbsalmos]

I come across a lot of appraisals and was hoping to get clarification on the present land use % and how that is calculated. More specifically, how attached housing is calculated. I've been told this: typical home on its own lot (unattached) is a one unit. duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes is 2-4 unit. Attached housing such as townhomes that span an entire street and large condo complexes are multi-family. Is this correct? If so, what about smaller townhome complexes and condo complexes that may only have four units in one building? Is that 2-4 unit, or is it lumped into the whole complex and considered multi-family? Any clarification from the pros is appreciated.

 

[Bearslide]

I come across a lot of appraisals and was hoping to get clarification on the present land use % and how that is calculated. More specifically, how attached housing is calculated. I've been told this: typical home on its own lot (unattached) is a one unit. duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes is 2-4 unit. Attached housing such as townhomes that span an entire street and large condo complexes are multi-family. Is this correct? If so, what about smaller townhome complexes and condo complexes that may only have four units in one building? Is that 2-4 unit, or is it lumped into the whole complex and considered multi-family? Any clarification from the pros is appreciated.

Single Family Dwellings:

A type of residential structure designed to include one Dwelling. Adjacent units may share walls and other structural components but generally have separate access to the outside and do not share plumbing and heating equipment.
Examples: Single-family housing includes:
• Detached Housing units
• town houses
• zero lot line homes

2-4 Family, Multi-Family Dwellings:

A type of residential structure with more than one Dwelling unit in the same building.
Example: Multifamily housing is divided into 2 categories:
2-4 dwelling units: Duplexes triplexes, and quadruplexes
5 or more units: apartment buildings
Multifamily housing may be tenant-occupied, owner-occupied (as in a Condominium or cooperative project), or mixed (as many duplexes with the owner occupying one side).

 

[Webbed Feet]

I come across a lot of appraisals and was hoping to get clarification on the present land use % and how that is calculated. More specifically, how attached housing is calculated. I've been told this: typical home on its own lot (unattached) is a one unit. duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes is 2-4 unit. Attached housing such as townhomes that span an entire street and large condo complexes are multi-family. Is this correct? If so, what about smaller townhome complexes and condo complexes that may only have four units in one building? Is that 2-4 unit, or is it lumped into the whole complex and considered multi-family? Any clarification from the pros is appreciated.

So "Multi-Family" includes both 2-4 units and all attached housing where such housing does not reside with each unit having a "lot" of it's own. Essentially, your two "catagories" would be income and non-income producing multi-family properties. So while a 4 unit condominium project would be multi-family, if the local market for it considers it to be SFR (as generally it would be defined to be) it would not be a "2-4 Unit" on the "forms" as that generally is taken to mean income producing investor type properties.

 

[monkey525]

What about commercial land use? If the neighborhood is predominantly SFR and there's like 2 small strip malls (consisting of few stores), and about 25% is wooded/forest area, what is the correct % to give? Would it be safe to say 90% One-Unit, 5% Commercial, and 5% other? (a review appraiser is complaining about this % figure)

 

[monkey525]

Also, a DUPLEX can be ONE-UNIT (Like a townhome), no?

 

[Laughing Heir]

What about commercial land use? If the neighborhood is predominantly SFR and there's like 2 small strip malls (consisting of few stores), and about 25% is wooded/forest area, what is the correct % to give? Would it be safe to say 90% One-Unit, 5% Commercial, and 5% other? (a review appraiser is complaining about this % figure)

Monkey,

I'm not saying you're wrong, I just don't follow your logic. If 1/4 or more of the land surface area in your market area / neighborhood is undeveloped, forests, state gamelands, agra, etc. ... how does that number disappear in the report. Most of my market areas are rural and end with about 10% single-family dwellings, maybe 0-1% commercial/industrial/education/etc. and the rest is unimproved land. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the questions posed on the form. I know when I see others say a neighborhood is less than 25% builtup and the other column says 100% builtup with residences it leaves me scratching my noggin.

 

[monkey525]

Little birdie told me that the PRESENT LAND USE is as IMPROVED.. (Not counting the unimproved land, such as wooded/forested area) So the correct way (in this case) is to say 25% other, 70% one unit, and 5% commercial?

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Thats what I would do

 

[monkey525]

One last thing.. the total BUIILT-UP of the neighborhood characteristics meaning total BUILT UP of residences? or everything, including commercial space, 2-4 units, etc.? (For example, if total residences are 70% and commercial is 20%, we should still say OVER 75% built-up, correct? or is it 25-75% since RESIDENCES are less than 75%?)

 

[Laughing Heir]

This is the part where I was wrong and understand why I was wrong now. I was saying that if a neighborhood is bucolic, rural, etc. it is probably less than 25% built-up and my 'other' box in present land use would correspond to that 0-25% (i.e. 15% residential / 85% other (land)); however, I now realize that of that 0-25% that is built-up the present land use is meant to correspond with the land that has already been developed (i.e. singles, condos, 2-4 units, commercial, etc.).

So, you could have the present land as 99% rez / 1% commersh and still be 0-25% builtup. That's my new understanding of this portion of the report.