Buying neighbor's house behind ours, tearing it down to make yard / pool

[Anonymous]

We are thinking about buying the neighbor's house directly behind our house because we have a small backyard. What we would like to do is tear it down and have a large backyard and pool.

Has anyone done this?

As long as we aren't building our house bigger past the property line there shouldn't be an issue right?

This is in fairfax county.

[Anonymous]

You would have to pay property taxes on the entire land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You would have to pay property taxes on the entire land.

Would it become one lot?

[Anonymous]

You are gong to have to get permits out the wazoo. Your neighbors may hold up the hearings. You will have to submit plans. The County has all sorts of rules about what can and cannot be built. Run it all by the County before you purchase the house. Also, the actually process of tearing down is much more difficult and expensive than you would think. You have to haul all that debris off sit and pay to have it properly dumpled. You cannot use it for fill for the basement. The plans that you submit will require that you have a specified-height fence surrounding the pool so children can't get it it, unless permanent cover (that rule keeps changing). We have two lots and pay two separate property tax bill

[Anonymous]

Builder here - but not from your area. Previous poster is correct. Zoning regs may bite you. if the rear lot is zoned for sfr (single family residence) you will have to meet/comply with all the regs. Where I build I could not do what you are proposing; I would need to construct a structure that qualified as a house, and complied with all zoning. You cannot put a pool by itself on a separate lot. Again different area so likely different rules. Make sure you do your homework first.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor did this in Alexandria and was somehow able to get the land treated as agricultural. The tax rate is a lot less.

[Anonymous]

Build a little pool house that qualifies as a residence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Build a little pool house that qualifies as a residence.

PP Builder here - no doubt that is how you get around it. That said, including demo of main house, plans, permits, etc. that nice pool house and pool would cost 500-750k where I build...do not think DC would price out that much different. Don't flame about pricing - nothing is spec'd - its for informational purposes for OP.

[Anonymous]

You have to build a structure on it. I know a house in my friends close in neighborhood that did this. A tiny house, but they built a basketball court in it so they would have use of it. They rented out the tiny house for income because they would not have been able to afford the two houses otherwise.

[Anonymous]

We're planning on doing this. We're in MoCo. We bought the house behind us 2 years ago and are just renting it out until kids are old enough to enjoy a backyard. Our house was a tear-down with no backyard basically.

When we do get around to demolishing the second house, we'll be getting advice from a real estate lawyer first. I believe we'll treat them as separate lots from a legal perspective, and our plan is to build a structure that will be a garage with a small living space on top, and the "back" of it will be a pool house.

We've also been told to expect $500k-700k total for the project. In our case, there is a slope involved so we'll also need to re-grade the properties as well.

[Anonymous]

PP here. Just wanted to add that someone else did this in our neighborhood, but in their case, they just tore down the house and fenced it to make a big backyard or the kids - no structure or pool. I haven't checked the zoning on it. The curb cut from the old house's driveway, and the driveway "apron" part is still there though.

[Anonymous]

Someone in my Fairfax County neighborhood did this. They built a pool house. I drive down the street in front of the pool house all time, and I didn't realize that it wasn't a normal single family home. This is in a neighborhood of large houses, so no telling how much they spent.

[Anonymous]

Pools are 500K - we checked it out. You wil ruin the value with the rezoning, if they let you do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking about buying the neighbor's house directly behind our house because we have a small backyard. What we would like to do is tear it down and have a large backyard and pool.

Has anyone done this?

As long as we aren't building our house bigger past the property line there shouldn't be an issue right?

This is in fairfax county.

Odds are your DH is going to get a better job offer and you'll haul ass back to Jersey or New York or wherever. Do us all a favor and leave the neighborhood as you found it, this is actually home for some of us and we'd rather not have to look at your whim for the next 30 years.

[Anonymous]

Between buying the lot and the proposed costs you are looking at $1.5 million? Take the $1.5 plus the sale of your existing house and just move to a large lot with a pool in great falls. I also think you'd recoup only a fraction of your investment in the pool in resale. A house in our neighborhood recently filled in their pool because they hadn't been able to sell with the pool.