City Inspectors rant

[giddonah]

My neighbor is a slum lord. I wanted to buy his condemned house (due to some minor fire damage and his not repairing it and the city subsequently getting pissed at him and condemning the place). So, the house has no c.o. The city inspector gave him a list of 25 violations and 30 days to fix them. It's now been 60 days. He's incurring $250/day in fines. I was going to take posession, fix the violations, get the c.o., and then finance it. Worst case scenario? After the 90days to work on it I can't get it financed and all work done reverts back to the owner. I could probably do it in 90 days, but if there were any hitches with the city, or with the licensed plumber/electrician, then we'd be totally screwed.

So I go to the city to see if they'd work with me on this. I had to talk to the fire inspector. I think he must have had the impression that I was working WITH the slum lord because he was making it as hard as he could. I have to get liability insurance and a form saying it's ok that I don't have workman's comp. since I wouldn't have any employees just to be a gc for my own house. I'd have to bring plans and a narrative of what I planned to do with the house. I had to use licensed plumbers/electricians (no supprise). And even if I did all that, and fixed everything, I'd be at the mercy of the zoning board to get permission to use the building. It wouldn't be unherd of for them to totally screw someone over to the point of destroying them financially just because they could. I hate my city.

I hear the head inspector is a good guy, but I'm not dealing with him. I have to deal with this guy who seems pissed at this house, it's owner, and anyone associated with it. I was getting really excited about this, it had the potential to make me a ton of money, but the city has the ability to crush me, and it seems like they're warning me that they would do it. Dammit. Dammit to hell. This blows. They tore one guy's house down because they didn't like him (it was hit by a car with a stuck accelerator and they trumped up the "structural instability" which was refuted by engineers). A black church burned to the ground years ago. It was literally 80 yards from a fire house. Our mayor was just convicted of fraud. I could go on, but I think I expressed my frustration.

[Mike Finley]

You would spend your money and time on a house you don't own? I don't know about all the issues with your city, but I certainly wouldn't advise anybody to do a lick of work on an investment property until they owned it.

[giddonah]

the contract would have given us time to do the work and find financing. Things were getting lined up, we have a banker who would do the deal, an electrician and plumber in mind. We would have gone for more time to get everything done, and we would only lose the house if we didn't finance it by the deadline (probably 4 or 5 months, finish in 2-3 and spend the rest of the deadline time on financing and unforseen issues). It was a risk in that respect, but the payoff was well worth it. Now that the city has made themselves clear, all that is moot.

[CogentRES]

I am trying to close on a condemned property right now. Oddly enough title issues are proving to be much more of a challenge than the condemned status of the house.

I know this post is old, but I might as well contribute to this board.


For this house, I spent six weeks getting ahold of the owner. I was able to get a key and a permission to enter from the owner.

I contacted the building inspector. He referred me to the city attorney. The city attorney drafted an agreement. I was to complete a list of repairs in six months and the city would stop demolition proceedings.

My financial backer and I met with the city attorney.

I assembled a binder for the city attorney including my license, insurance, plans, sub quotes, drafts ect.

He reassured us that the city was not interested in deceiving us and they were willing to work with us.


The keys seem to be:

Presentation: Show the city you are qualitied to take on the project and show them how you will do it

Impression: Do not come look like an amateur. I showed up with my financial backer. He is a lender who banks and mortgage brokers come to for money. Think very large $$$$$

Personality: Be extremly polite. Show your appreciation to the assistants, clerks, secretaries ect. Avoid the phone and set up meetings in person. Impress everyone you deal with.

Persistance: This is not an easy process. Do not give up.


This is by no means an easy project. When a house is condemned, it draws tons of negative attention. In order to get the CO issued everything must be absolutely perfect. The city will spell out what it wants. Follow it exactly.

[giddonah]

Well, it sounds like you've got a much better city to deal with than I do. I'm not going to try to get into another multifamily in this city, they're just too hard to deal with and too corrupt (our mayor was investigated by the FBI and convicted of fraud). I like the county, but this city isn't worth it until I get bigger.

I do appreciate your posting though, and would like to hear how your project goes.