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Is that a good deal? $1.3 million doesn't sound like a lot for a massive 44,000 square foot factory built in 1920. My grandfather owns properties out in Pennsylvania and when I was out there with him just a couple of days ago, I noticed a massive factory for sale and it was only a block over from his house. The building has so much potential, it's already in pretty good shape and has been inspected by the city. It's a really cool old building. All it needs it some refurbishing and remodeling and it can be broken up and made into condos. That's a going trend these days; turning old factories into modern apartments/condos. Good investment?
Is that a good deal? $1.3 million doesn't sound like a lot for a massive 44,000 square foot factory built in 1920. My grandfather owns properties out in Pennsylvania and when I was out there with him just a couple of days ago, I noticed a massive factory for sale and it was only a block over from his house. The building has so much potential, it's already in pretty good shape and has been inspected by the city. It's a really cool old building. All it needs it some refurbishing and remodeling and it can be broken up and made into condos. That's a going trend these days; turning old factories into modern apartments/condos. Good investment?
I do hope you realize how few people in the country, much less on this forum, are equipped to answer a question like that. Between the dollar amount given and the complete lack of information (there's a whole lot of Pennsylvania), I'm not sure what you're looking for.
I'll tell you this much... it's a good investment if you can buy the property, renovate it, and get a return on all the money you spent greater than what you will in the stock market over the next few years. If you can't, it's not! How's that?
It doesn't matter how cheap it is, if it's in the middle of nowhere or in a dying coal town there is probably zero market for fancy loft-type apartments or condos.
Also, manufacturing is on the decline, and the few companies setting up plants or warehouses in PA want modern, efficient buildings.
I do hope you realize how few people in the country, much less on this forum, are equipped to answer a question like that. Between the dollar amount given and the complete lack of information (there's a whole lot of Pennsylvania), I'm not sure what you're looking for.
I'll tell you this much... it's a good investment if you can buy the property, renovate it, and get a return on all the money you spent greater than what you will in the stock market over the next few years. If you can't, it's not! How's that?
did someone tatoo the words "snotty prick" to your forehead?
It doesn't matter how cheap it is, if it's in the middle of nowhere or in a dying coal town there is probably zero market for fancy loft-type apartments or condos.
Also, manufacturing is on the decline, and the few companies setting up plants or warehouses in PA want modern, efficient buildings.
This. no one can really say without knowing location and condition.
Well, it depends on where in Pennsylvania we're talking about. If it's in a town that has some development potential, it may well be worth it. If it's in some podunk rust-belt wasteland, it's pretty much worthless. I'd look at it this way- at 44,000sf, you could easily get 20+ condo units in there once you allow for circulation, mechanical spaces, etc.
$1.3 million divided by 20 units is $65,000/unit for the raw space- that's nothing of the building was in downtown Philly, but its more than the units might be worth in a small town. If you could get 30-40 smaller units in there, the cost/unit obviously goes down.
Also, you have to look and see what that warehouse was constructed for, and what it housed, and what condition.
Many buildings are not up to code in many areas, and getting all the structure, cladding and untilities up to that an be quite expensive.
1920's warehouse sounds great in an urban area, but as soon as you start getting out more, you are looking at unreinforced brick stand-alone structures that were possibly only designed to hold a roof over a big empty space, not additional floors and loading. Or it may have been storage, in which case the columns might be quite closely spaced (20' O.C.) making it difficult to get a well divided layout, or utilize space at the ground floor for things like parking or lobby space.
But as people are saying, more info is needed before any of us can give you an opinion....
If it is anywhere near NE PA, or Philly, it may be a good purchase, depending on a lot of factors. Besides that, maybe not so much.
Is it free span, meaning no columns?
A friend of mine, a developer, basically told me this when I saw somethign I thought was a great idea:
"There are a million local guys like me (developers), if it were such a great deal, one of us would have snatched it up before it ever came to market. Once it has hit the open market, the value is decreased along with the likelihood that it is a good deal."
I have tremendous respect for this guy, because before the recession hit, he had over 10 development projects going on, but 3 years ago he saw that "something bad" was coming and he got out of all his projects and was completely liquid before the market tanked.
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