I've been taking walks around my neighborhood lately and when I came upon this house under construction, I realized that it was a house I featured a few years ago when the house was into its second year of construction. You can see that post here.
The original house was torn down in August of 2014 leaving only the portico standing. I made a comment in that old post about not understanding why they left the portico standing but, I've since learned the answer to that question. It is one of those questionable tax loopholes. If you tear down a building to completely replace it, the permit fees are for building a new building. If you leave part of the building standing and add to it, it's a remodel with much lower permit fees. So, the owners decided to keep the portico while the whole house was demolished. I'm just not sure why it is taking so long to complete the construction. The first photo on that original post was taken on September 14th 2014. The one above was taken last Sunday. As you can see from this latest photo, they are still not quite done with it.
11 comments:
I saw a bungalow demolished except for one wall. The new structure combined the wall into the new monster home. That made the whole construction site a renovation. I pays to know the all the rules and regulations.
As Andy said above that is the rule here so you see many single walls left standing and huge structures built around them. 6 years!
It seems like common knowledge to people who want to have a new house built except the piece left standing is a big benefit to them money wise. That's a useful loophole that is probably used by lots of people. I wonder when this huge house will be finished.
In the Middle East, people often start but don't finish their upper floor. I get the impression like it's a case of we'll get around to it when we get around to it, which can sometimes seem strange to Westerners. I don't know if there is a financial advantage that way or not. Probably so.
It makes me think of the Winchester Mystery House in California. I think the widow of one of the Winchester gun manufacturer family members believed that she wouldn't die as long as there was something being built in the house. It didn't make her immortal and it left behind a bizarre structure.
Like they couldn't afford the fees, right?
I wonder if leaving part of the original structure (and qualifying as a "remodel") also impacts the property taxes? The finished structure might have a lower tax base as a remodel vs. a new home. Seems like a silly loophole that someone should fix if that's the case.
Sounds like one of those deals where they work on it for a while, then pause while they save up money, then work on it again. We have several buildings around us that seem to be renovating that way.
Very grand indeed!
Well how about that.. it pays to know those loopholes Sharon and the portico is probably the beat part :) Some builds seem to take forever for one reason or another.
It seems underhanded.
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