I recently put in an offer for a mixed-use (residential and commercial) property. The commercial space was once a professional doctor office that has its own entrance and is attached to the main residential house. I plan to rezone the commercial space to residential, convert it to a 2-bedroom housing unit, and renting it out. I would live in the main house and act as an on-site landlord. The property is located in a mostly residential neighborhood on a busy street. There are no other mixed-use properties in proximity.
I know I will have to hire architects, contractors, etc. for this project but I’m coming here to gauge the viability of this plan before hiring professionals and investing into it.
Rough sketch of the floorplan, red area is the commercial space. Not drawn to scale. I don’t know what the size of the commercial space is, but the entire building interior is over 4,000 square feet in size on a half-acre lot.
Questions:
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Is it necessary to rezone the commercial space to residential in order to rent it out as a housing unit?
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Is it difficult to rezone commercial space to residential for a mixed-use property? Doing so would make it entirely residential.
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Which kinds of people do I talk to and where do I start to begin learning how to do this? I’m reluctant to ask my real estate agent in case it causes issues with us closing on the house.
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Any downsides of being an on-site landlord?
I’m in the very beginning stages of learning this process so my apologies if I’m using any terms incorrectly. If I am mislabeling concepts please correct me.
Location: New Jersey USA