Buying a house - zoning problem

[northside lurker]

Anything new on this Westsider?  Have you resolved the zoning issue with the bank? 

No.  I called the bank today, and they are still "researching."

Last week, I called Ray DeCarlo and asked him about this.  He was as shocked as I was that this is a problem.  The house is considered to be a legal non-conforming use.  He was nice enough to send me a letter saying so.  I got the letter the next day, and faxed it right over to the bank.  But, it doesn't seem to have helped.

Thanks for asking.

[Shar]

Anything new on this Westsider?  Have you resolved the zoning issue with the bank? 

[john r. swierz]

    As has been stated before, Zoning deals with land use.  1st  residential, 2nd Institutional, 3rd Commercial & industrial, 4th Mixed use.  Residential is your domicile(where you sleep at night), however you are allowed  to have a home office only in this class. Institutional means that  its use is for offices( doctors, ins. agencies, etc. I bought a house in this class and opened my appliance repair office . Finally the C &I is for retail,manufacturing etc. For as long as I can remember the city has used the tool of "spot zoning" , thus allowing  Commercial  business' in the first two classes(Mixed use).  This is done thru council. Finally , you are not allowed to have a business such as a auto repair shop , lawn care, tree cutting, roofing,etc in a residential zoned area.

[Youngstownshrimp]

Maybe both.

[northside lurker]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying.  Are you saying that I need to provide proof to the bank that residential is a "permitted use" at this address, so they can go ahead with the appraisal and loan?  Or, are you saying that the bank doesn't really care about this zoning issue, and I need to come up with a larger down payment?

[Youngstownshrimp]

When you speak to Decarlo, he will refer to the zoning ordnance manual (green book).  Under your zoning classification, there will follow a "permitted use" list, I guarantee you that one of the permitted usage will be residential single family.  Many with a keyboard here think that if they google a subject, the first thing that pops up is all they need and refrain from digging deeper.  The strength of your loan application is going to be how you secure a lender, the issue I think you are not seeing is that your lender does not feel the collateral secures the bank enough.  If you can insure a good equity position by way of a discounted price of a significant down payment, this should entice the lender.

[northside lurker]

It looks like I might need to find another bank.

According to these maps, "my" property is definitely zoned Institutional.
http://cfweb.cc.ysu.edu/psi/bralich_map/youngstown_zoning.pdf
http://cfweb.cc.ysu.edu/psi/bralich_map/120_neighborhood_current_zoning.pdf

[Youngstownshrimp]

Doesn't sound right, call Rey Decarlo of City zoning and ask him to look up the zoning.  Do not count on the auditor site only.  Owner occupied property from what has always been the mortgage lenders policy are the easiest loans to approve. 

[northside lurker]

I'm trying to buy a house in the Wick Park Neighborhood, and everything was going fine until this week. The appraiser (via the bank) said he can't appraise the house because it's located in an area zoned institutional. (according to the county auditor's website, the land use is "Two family - on Commercial") This put the brakes on everything. The bank tells me they aren't sure they can lend money on a house intended to be a primary residence in such an area. I'm not sure I would even want to persue a commercial loan because I assume that would be more expensive.

The owner was also unaware of this. But, this house, and the neighboring house has been in his family for decades. And, many of the other houses on the street are no longer used as residences, or are rentals.

I'd consider trying to buy the house on land contract, but I don't think the owner would be interested. He's had some interest from other parties, (I'm only saved by the purchase agreement) and some of them are probably able to pay cash for the property.

I know at least one of our other forum members will also run into this issue.  So hopefully, someone (real estate professional or councilperson) has some advice.