SVreX wrote:
First couple thoughts- I'll add more later.
a COUPLE? Great post, man
What you are describing is called mixed-use. It's not permissible in the building code, which I know you don't care about. But there is a reason for it that is worth considering.
Why not permissible? Every commercial real estate website has a search option for mixed-use. Its actually kind of an emerging trend down here. Like this: http://www.cityfeet.com/Commercial/ForSale/9907-Oliver-Drive-Austin-TX-78736-16743100L0L0.aspx
Mixed use structures are inherently more risky. People sleeping or preparing food in the same space where cars are worked on or products are manufactured is a recipe for higher potential for small problems becoming big ones. A fire becomes a tragedy, simple fumes or dust become a major health risk, etc.
I fully understand what you're saying, but I might not have been clear. The living space and the garage space would be separated by a complete fire-rated wall. Granted, the surface area exposure between the two is much higher than residential, but we already have a 3-hour fire wall designed for it.
That's why you will have trouble with lenders, insurance people, etc.
Anyone here own a bank and an insurance company? 
Also, remember that a non-zoned area works both ways. You can do whatever you want, but there is nothing stopping someone from putting a pig farm or a chemical plant on the property next door.
I think I'm prepared for that. That's how I grew up - in an unzoned area. We had a commercial chicken farm behind us, a horse farm on one side, and condos on the other. The breeze would shift and we would smell the poop from 63,000 chickens. Mom would smile and say something like, "smell that? That is the smell of our neighbor's success." And we bought cheap eggs and always had chicken in the fridge thanks to them. Dad had a little side thing with fixing tractors and the horse farm always brought him money. If a cult moved in next door I think my family would have said, "here is a great opportunity to learn about something we don't understand."
You should look at AG zoning, and you should consider 2 separate structures (one for living in, one for work).
the two structures was our first thought - buy a house on a sizeable property like normal people and add a separate 60 x 80 shop. That (by my current calculations) would cost about 4 times as much. Buying the house and land would probably be in the $400k range, plus the raw garage structure in the $40k range plus electric, water, etc. It could easily get to be a $600k investment and not be what we want.
On the other hand, unimproved, unzoned land goes cheap (in the neighborhood of $2k-3k per acre). Then $60k for the building with insulation and doors, then the wall to separate it, etc (like I outlined before)
I started looking into AG zoning and stopped after I got a more apocalyptic set of answers than this one. Not sure if its Texas or everywhere, but the taxes here on AG property are insane. AG property also goes for an incredible premium down here. If you can put 30 head of dairy cattle on it, expect it to sell for (literally) about 10 times what even a prime residential property would sell for. Plus, in order to get true AG zoning I would have to live much too far out of town. I'll look into again, but I saw a 3.5 acre plot in Elgin with a wasted pole shed that sold in a week for $1.3M. No water, electric, sewer, nothing. Just dirt with a pole shed. Estimated taxes were $30,000/year. Now, of course you get a percentage of those taxes back if you actually have livestock or show a profit on horticulture, but you have to pay it, then apply for AG exemption and they send some of it back from what I understand.
I would suggest incorporating as a non-profit offering repair services on an as-you-can-pay basis. This will enable you to receive charitable donations, work with churches and other non-profits, and give you a great marketing spin to grow the business from.
Can you do that??? I thought that getting non-profit status was far more difficult than that. I thought you had to do something more specific like pet rescue, health care, or religious stuff. I never got the impression that you could set up a charitable auto repair.
Steel building- insulation (to make it suitable for a residence) is a lot more than you think. Doors, windows, etc. quoted for a standard steel building suck for insulating value for a residence. $8K won't come close to the needs for HVAC for this structure. Do you need to AC your shop?
Even if I could afford A/C for the shop, I couldn't afford the $500/month to run it... so, no, I don't need A/C for the shop. The insulation that is spec'd out is 8-inch insulation with foam-skin walls in the shop, and R-32 for the residential walls, R-22 for the residential roof, plus the long-term plans include photoelectric panels on the residence which will suck up a large portion of the heat energy before it even reaches the roof.
According to my calculations, the residence will need about a 3-ton unit, but the open/loft style will keep complex ducting and zone climates to a minimum. There is a pretty crazy supply of free wood around these parts - even people advertising on CL that they will pay YOU $100 to take some dead oaks off their ranch, (to prevent oak blight from wiping out their population) so wood heat is a viable option supplemented with gas heat and/or solar/electric.
Don't forget there are not very many people (off this board) who would not buy what you are talking about. It my be your dream house, but it may also be difficult to sell (another reason banks won't touch it).
That is likely not a concern given two factors... A) the length in which we would plan to stay and B) smaller properties exactly like this down here are selling like hotcakes for $500k. Seems to be a trend... how long the trend lasts might be the rub.
As a first time home buyer there are a lot of incentives and opportunities you will be missing if you buy a non-residential property. Might be worth putting up with a "standard" property that you move through to something bigger once you have built up the business to justify it.- just a thought.
Not sure why, but we have an irrational spite for the whole idea of buying something we hate just because its an affordable "stepping stone" on our way to buying something better. What if the market changes again and we're stuck in that hated house for another decade? The whole idea of spending a life savings on a down payment on something that we could take a bath on, be stuck in, and hate to the core doesn't really seem like something we feel like we should be forced to like. If we were truly faced with that option, we would quite honestly use our savings to buy a travel trailer and move back into it like we did for our first 5 years and travel the continent again.
The whole idea of buying something we don't want in the hopes that we can buy something better by the time we retire is not our mindset. That's kinda a baby boomer thing (not saying its wrong, just different)
We both watched as our parents and aunts and uncles did the whole start-in-the-mailroom-and-work-your-way-to-the-top mentality and it ended up just meaning they spent the majority of their lives hating the world while holding on to a feeble potential that it will turn into the golden 8 years of a good salary at the end, then they retired and had heart attacks. I know I just sound like a gen-x hippie (which I am) but its not an attractive option for us. I want it all and I want it now (not really, but if I can make it work, I will)
Having said that, there is a reason that people do it. It works. There is also a reason that people don't do what I'm proposing. Its a new idea that isn't proven.
I also don't wish to sound unappreciative for your wonderful insight... its invaluable. There are several things you suggest that I haven't explored and will definitely look into.
