[robayon]

Originally Posted by Topgunben [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I can tell the person that wrote this has absolutely zero clue what he/she is talking about.

-Zoning most likely will not allow for the conversion of commercial into residential. It can take years to get a zoning variance, and failure to get approval is a high likelihood.

-Construction standards from Commerical to Residential are also different, it would require a huge upfront invesment to retrofit a commercial building to make apartments.

-Parking can be a big issue. Many jurisdictions require 1.5 parking spots per residential bedroom.

-Construction costs are enormous right now. Any investor will have to think long and hard about starting a construction project right now. Not to mention, it is very difficult to find subcontractors and materials.

-Its easy to kick a commercial tenant out, its damn near impossible to kick a residential tenant out. This has made many potential investors shy away from converting commercial into residential. Most commercial buildings worth of converting into residential apartments are in urbanized area, which tend to be democratically run and therefore have strict rent control/tenant protection laws.

Lastly, I actually think its a good idea to be able to do this kind of conversion, but unfortunately government regulation has made this impossible for all of the above reasons.

The real solution is to dissolve all government regulation, especially zoning laws, and let development happen organically.

Feel like you missed a few steps from "there should be fewer obstacles to converting commercial buildings into residential" straight into "let's let the milk bottlers put raw brains in the milk again"