The Family Home

[Ken15]

I recently moved my Mother out of the family home into a smaller home. The old family home is approximately 4000sq.ft. with 5 garages, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, overlooking a river and located on an almost 1/2 acre lot in Waterloo. The problem is this house is situated on a soon to be 4 lane major arterial road. Lots of traffic and noise.



Right now the house is vacant but contains the office of the family construction business. Unfortunately, selling is not an option because of my Mother’s sentimental attachment to the house. (Financially she can be sentimental???)



I am “toying” around a couple of options for the house.



1.) Renting the house as an “executive rental” (With this option I would have to move the office to another location)



2.) Converting the home into a mutiplex (4-5 plex) apartment. (Could possibly leave the office as is and call it a “rental office” inside the apartment)



3.) Re-Zone and convert the entire house into offices. Keep one office for my company and rent the remaining.





Financials aside…. any comments, suggestions or recommendations?





Thanks,



Ken

 

[Dan_Eisenhauer]

Your options appear to be personal choices, and are things that those not intimately familiar with the property, zoning by-laws, your finances, etc cannot comment on with any degree of knowledge and professionalism.

I suggest you work out the finances on doing each of the options you mention, taking all the costs of each into account, and then chose the one that suits your personal circumstances best.

Good luck

 

[CarlaJohnson]

With your mom`s strong attachment to the property, you should consult her first. I suspect she may prefer you sell the place rather than pursue any of the above options. It sounds like a lovely estate property. She may be happier knowing another familly is enjoying the property, rather than any kind of tenant.

 

[Thomas Beyer]

What does mother want ?

Assuming she owns it, she has to sign documents to allow sale, re-zoning, renovations, add`l parking etc. .. at least through a Limited Power of Attorney in your name ..

Would she be OK if her house is now a small sub-urban office park ?

Is this allowed .. or can you get re-zoning for that ? Ask city hall first .. and if they say "sure" or "maybe" or "why not" .. then submit a formal application for re-zoning to commercial !

Likely this will be the best option as it will benefit from the major highway, existing structure with minor add`l investment and lot size. Over time, you may be able to build add`l buildings ..

If commercial re-zoning is not an option (because of mother or because of city hall) then I`d suggest you get an appraisal, and consider these options:

a) do nothing .. i.e. proceed as is (Besides the noble art of getting things done, is the more noble art of leaving things undone.)

b) rent to another family

c) sub-let some space for add`l income

d) convince mother to sell, after some time has elapsed, or after you have changed the house sufficiently .. new paint job, new roof pitch, hedge gone, trees trimmed .. windows replaced .. new landscaping .. i.e. it doesn`t look her house anymore !!

 

[Ken15]

QUOTE (CarlaJohnson @ Nov 15 2008, 07:17 AM) With your mom`s strong attachment to the property, you should consult her first. I suspect she may prefer you sell the place rather than pursue any of the above options. It sounds like a lovely estate property. She may be happier knowing another familly is enjoying the property, rather than any kind of tenant.

Thanks for all the replies!

Here is some further info:

Actually... I`m the one that wants to sell the home but my Mother will not let go. She wants me to explore alternative uses for the property so she can remain owner. This home was built by my late father for her and us kids to live in. My father passed away (in the home) and all the kids have grown up and moved out. The property was way to big for her and on a busy street. (Too dangerous for grandkids to visit.) So we built her a new home around the corner on a nice quiet street. She is very happy in her new location but refuses to sell the old home.

 

[Thomas Beyer]

QUOTE (Ken15 @ Nov 15 2008, 02:44 PM) Thanks for all the replies!

Here is some further info:

Actually... I`m the one that wants to sell the home but my Mother will not let go. She wants me to explore alternative uses for the property so she can remain owner. This home was built by my late father for her and us kids to live in. My father passed away (in the home) and all the kids have grown up and moved out. The property was way to big for her and on a busy street. (Too dangerous for grandkids to visit.) So we built her a new home around the corner on a nice quiet street. She is very happy in her new location but refuses to sell the old home.
give it a few years .. with the new busy highway, a new paint job and some house moderations she will feel in time that this is not her home anymore !!

Time heals all wounds .. and a busy highway and paint (or a bulldozer ??) can accelerate it !!