can you build a house next to a house you bought? (Arlington: HOA, mortgage) - City-Data Forum

Fantasticx · 08-31-2009, 03:30 PM

I heard someone recently bought a house and built a house next to it and sold it to pay mortgage in DC. If I buy a housein NOVA, will the HOA allow me to build a house next to it and sell it for profit? I think you can buy a nice house for less if you sell the part of the land that comes with the house to someone. also you have less grass to mow.

540_804 · 08-31-2009, 04:17 PM

Probably not.

It would depend on how the property is zoned/regulated.

Firstly, your HOA would probably never let that pass.

Secondly, depending on local ordinances you probably have restrictions concerning maximum housing density, minimum lot size, minimum front yard size, minimum setbacks, etc.

If you could get HOA approval and the zoning ordinances allow you (i.e., you have a really large lot), then you could probably do it. But, before considering it, realize that it may not be the goldmine it sounds like. You have to pay for the house to be built in the first place. If you already have a mortgage it will be hard to get a second loan to finance the construction of the house. If you can build it, what if you can't sell it? If you can sell it, how much will you profit? You may find that the only profit you realize my come from the fact that you already owned the land you built it on.

It might be easier and more financially sensible to just sell the extra land that you don't want (but you would have to jump through some hoops to do even that).

VRE332 · 08-31-2009, 09:56 PM

You could always run for an HOA president, then put your wife on the architectural review board, then have her budddy up and you work in teams, and it can be done. haha

Denton56 · 08-31-2009, 10:14 PM

Buy a house on a large lot in an area without an HOA. Then you can do what you want with your own land.

irvine · 08-31-2009, 10:31 PM

Don't do it in Arlington,... there are not many large lots, and you will deal with the acrimony of the civic association, and pissed off neighbors. Off the top of my head, in Annandale and Franconia there are actually quite a few fairly large lots.