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Convert Your Single Family Home Into A Legal Multi Family Home
Will it really be legal?
It can't be done legally! I've heard it literally hundreds of
times, yet in my concrete cutting business, one that is crucial
in the conversion process, I have seen it done hundreds of
times. How you may ask? It's actually not any more difficult
than most major home renovations. And if you ask what are the
benefits? That is a simple one: it can increase the value of
your home by 50% and sometimes double. It also allows you to
legally rent your new apartment(s) out to cut your personal
living expenses. Still sound impossible? Well, if you call your
local building department and ask if it can be done, you may get
laughed at but depending on your city or town's local by-laws
you may be surprised to find out that it isn't at all uncommon.
However, there are several conditions that must be in place
before a building inspector would even consider handing you an
application for a building permit. You may or may not already
meet the criteria for this undertaking, but if you don't, you
may be able to easily make the necessary changes.
These conditions in most cases are/but not limited to:
* Ample parking for each unit - usually two parking spaces for
each unit are necessary depending on the amount of bedrooms. If
space permits, parking can easily be increased on your property
with some excavating and/or by adding concrete retaining walls.
* Ceiling height - If the basement or attic is to be converted
to an apartment there are limits to how low the ceiling can be.
Lowering a concrete basement floor can be accomplished, in most
cases, by cutting and removing the existing concrete, digging
the dirt out and pouring a new concrete slab.
* Egress - This is the ability to enter and exit the new unit.
There must be a set amount of windows and doors of certain
widths and lengths. This is where our expertise comes in to
play. We are a
professional concrete cutting service. We cut
egress windows and doors into concrete foundations and openings
for the installation of basement stairs and bulkheads.
* Each unit must have a bathroom and kitchen in order to be
considered legal.
We once cut in some egress windows for a woman in Revere, MA who
already had an "illegal" in-law apartment that she easily
converted it to a "legal" apartment. She had been asking
$259,000 for her single family home but couldn't sell it. After
seeing her neighbor convert her home into a two family she did
the same. She completed the conversion and ended up selling her
property for $379,000.
I remember doing a job for a man in the prestigious community of
Brookline, MA in Boston. He owned a condominium in a six unit
building which each came with a storage unit that was one sixth
of the basement of the building. He told the other five-condo
owners that he needed additional storage and that he was willing
to pay them to purchase their storage units. He ended up buying
the other five storage areas for $15,000 each, 1,200 sq feet of
prime real estate for a total of $75,000. We ended up cutting
and removing the concrete slab and cutting in a doorway in the
foundation for him. He lowered the basement floor and converted
it into a beautiful condo and sold it for over $1,000,000.
These examples are evidence that anything is possible. By
checking with your local building department and doing your
homework, you too may be able to convert your single family into
a multi-unit property.
(c) Copyright 2005 Affordable Concrete Cutting, Inc. Boston
About the author:
To learn more about converting your basement into an apartment,
remodeling your basement or just installing a precast concrete
stairway and a bulkhead please visit Affordable Concrete Cutting
Boston's website at http://www.affordableconcretecutting.com
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