Architect and Real Estate Recs/Advice: Want to buy and renovate a house

Ok, so I was wondering if anyone could recommend an architect to help us design a house [radical remodel/complete demo] when we finally decide to start looking for properties to build on. Basically, we are in the EXTREMELY early stages of planning our move to a new home.

At this point, we only know that we want to stay in the area. Now, I think it's time we decide on an architect so that we can look more seriously next year.

Has anyone done this can share some advice? Can anyone recommend an architect who does this kind of work? I'm thinking when we find a piece of property/home we want to renovate, they would need to be consulted so they could quickly come up with a rough plan -- before we decide to buy anything.

Let me know. I've never worked with an architect before so I don't really know how a process like this works.

Thanks.

I do not know of one single empty piece of property in this area, nor houses that are so affordable you would buy them for the site alone (tear them down). Maplewood is not at all the kind of town where you find many examples of completely new construction.

You should get to know the market and our neighborhoods. If brand new is what you want, you will likely need to look further west for it to make any financial sense at all.

I believe there are a very few empty properties (often owned by the adjacent property owner), but whether any are available for sale is doubtful. There may be some run-down properties or foreclosures where it might make sense, but I don't know how you find them. However, there is quite a bit of activity in doing major renovations on houses that are not in move-in condition. I have a friend who is doing this now and I will ask her who she is using.

I haven't done any of this, and agree there is very little demolition and/or new builds in this area, but the better known residential architects practicing in Maplewood and South Orange include Clawson Architects, David Jablonka Architect, John James Architect, and Majewski Jones Architects.

I think you may be putting the cart before the horse. I think you may need to find something you want to move to, or figure out what you are going to do before you start working with an architect. When you say you want to stay in "this area" what towns are you referring to. If you are looking to build, the opportunities to do so in Maplewood and South Orange are extremely rare. The economics of "tear downs" don't work well in SOMa. The lot for sale on Curtis is very small and has a very small building envelope.

In Short Hills, tear downs run from 800,000 to around 1,500,000 depending on the size of the lot and it's location. That is to purchase the property. Then, of course there is the cost to build.

If you want to buy and renovate or do a "gut " remodel, whether you need an architect will depend on what you want to do. A Victorian home on Roland that needed a total remodel just sold for $400,000. It needed a new kitchen, baths, floors, roof, paint, maybe a wall or two moved . That would be a very small job for an architect.

Or, you could spend $2,000,000 on a house in short hills that needs to be totally redone. As a realtor I have some experience in all of those scenarios, but there's not enough info here to give specific advice.

A lot of architects and builders will tell you to live in a house for a year before launching into extensive renovations. I'm confused by your assumption that anything you buy will need that much work. Aren't there any existing houses around here that are good enough?

Do you have much experience with home improvement, and are you aware of how stressful it can be? Even a bathroom upgrade can be a nightmare, much less gutting and rebuilding a whole house.

More thoughts. Your strategy for building will be slightly different than your strategy for doing a gut renovation/addition. If you are thinking of "building" it would be a good idea to meet with an architect to get a sense of budget, timing, process etc. In addition to finding an architect you love, you will also want to make sure that architect has a lot of experience working in the municipality where the project is located. Your architect will shepherd your plans through the approval process and who will help you get variances if needed so you want someone with experience in that town. I will PM some suggestions. You will probably want to meet with more than one architect to get a sense of who you feel most comfortable with and whose vision most closely matches yours. If you are building, your builder will be as important as your architect.

I've known people who went that route who spent three years looking for the right property. So, even though your project is years away you should start looking now. Towns nearby that teardowns and new construction are occurring are Short Hills, Summit, Madison, Livingston, Florham Park, Chatham Township, Harding. You can go further out to Bernards, Basking Ridge, Mendham.

If Maplewood and South Orange is the area you are looking on rare occasions lots become available, so you would need to keep a very very close eye out.

You should also start going to open houses for new construction, or properties built recently to identify potential builders you might want to work with.

You may want to start working with a realtor now who can point out when appropriate properties come on the market or are "open".

If you are going to do a gut renovation I am guessing it might be premature to meet with an architect until you find the property you want to purchase. So much will depend on the individual property. I would also suggest going to open houses , both of properties that need a total redo and properties that have been done.

Good luck.

sarahzm said:

I've known people who went that route who spent three years looking for the right property.

To add to this, once you find a place, you may find that some of the popular architects are also booked up for a year or two.

I am glad to give you a recommendation for a really great architect and firm in the area. Let me preface this by saying that I have used several who were recommended on MOL in the past and I was not all that happy with them. One wound up being all but fraudulent and cost me thousands in problems with the Morristown construction department before I was able to close out the permits. Not to mention having three separate General Contractors go out of business on me in the middle of our project--I lost thousands on that as well. What really frosted me was that the architect gave us zero support through all this--nothing with the Town questions, nothing with contractor questions, nothing.

And this all happened to me even though I am a commercial property manager in New York City and deal with multimillion dollar renovations each year. It is a far different animal dealing with local residential contractors and architects, I have sadly discovered.

This time around I got a recommendation for an architect from a friend who is buying up houses that need a lot of work and then flipping them. I saw the work that he was doing and liked it a lot, and the architect had not only a good sense of design but also a great eye for quality on a budget. I hired them for a troublesome project closing on that botched renovation and then coming up with some other designs, and I found them to be professional, prompt, and affordable. They took charge of dealing with the Town officials, helped me locate a great contractor, and visited the project frequently. They even followed up on a weekly basis AFTER their work was done to make sure we were able to close it all out properly, and they returned an unused portion of our retainer to boot.

Here is the architect:

Robert Schmitt, RA AIA

Simonian Rosenbaum Architects, Inc.
64 River Road Summit, NJ 07901
P. 908 516-2738 x 15
F. 908 516-2745
www.SR-Architects.com

Regards,
Mark Furman

mfpark - I pm'd you

What about that house that burned down on Maplewood Ave a year or so ago? I think it was a bank owned property... there still isn't a house there.

There's an empty lot by the golf course, near Park Ave. Can't remember which street. there were environmental issues that resulted in house having to be torn down. It's a small lot, but that might be what you are looking for. The houses around there are around 3 or 4 bedrooms, with 1 or 2 baths.

What the OP is suggesting doesn't seem completely impossible in this area, though I agree it's more common in other towns. A few years ago on Mountain Avenue in Maplewood, Clawson executed a tear-down of a ranch-style house and created a craftsman house. Seems to be both a sizable house and lot. Not sure if the owners were already in residence, or if they bought the property with that plan in mind. "Craftsman" on attached photo gallery:

http://www.clawsonarchitects.com/category/menus/projects

There's also a house for sale on Harding (foreclosure maybe?) in SO that could be purchased and torn down. It looks like a contractor tried to flip it and then folded. Great views of Manhattan from there. There's a few modern houses up in that area that must have been tear downs.

@ArchBroad, I doubt they were tear downs, I suspect they were open land originally too difficult to build on (due to topography) economically.

That could be too. Some of them are cantilevering off the cliffs (the ones in SO I'm thinking of specifically). There's a few in MPLW though that were definitely tear downs. Identical flat lots like their neighbors.

If I were contemplating buying a house and then doing major renovations, I would rather do them all at once before moving in rather than having to move out later OR live alongside ongoing renovations.

That's what my friend is doing currently. She reported that doing it that way also is saving them a lot of money on the renovations. For example, they can have contractors deal with ALL the plumbing or ALL the electrical or whatever at once rather than piecemeal. It is also allowing them to save on appliance purchases since they are not as constrained re measurements, etc.

They are using Clawson Architects and are happy with them.

I may be incorrect, but I believe that Cami with Studio Verte did the plans on her own home that added a second floor to that structure. It turned out very well from my point of view.

We have used Cami for design work on several projects inside and outside our home with good satisfaction. Her contact information is:

Camilla Zelevansky, AIA
Studio Vert Architecture
411 Ridgewood Road
Maplewood, NJ 07040
p. 917-647-1667
cami@studiovert.net

This. My understanding is that Ms. Zelevansky's home is the first house on the north side of Oakview Ave., next to the Municipal Building. To appreciate how wonderful the design work was, the full second (and attic) floor was added to what had always been a 1 and 1/2 storey bungalow. From this you can see that this architect can do most anything you require in a way that fits the original architecture of a property and of its surrounding neighborhood.

for some reason this thread seems like an exact duplicate posting from a few months ago ..........

kmk said:
@ArchBroad, I doubt they were tear downs, I suspect they were open land originally too difficult to build on (due to topography) economically.

The lot on Park Avenue is, in fact, the result of a tear down. I haven't seen any sign to indicate that it is for sale.

Thanks for all the advice so far. To clarify our situation a little more:

- we know we problobly won't find an empty lot around here that is worth building on

- we are looking at all the "Train Towns" from South Orange to Summit.

- for an architect worthy, custom renovation we are prepared to spend around $800k [obviously less if possible] for the right property

I hope this helps:

If that is $800,000, total budget, all said and done, for the property and renovation, you will likely be to limited renovating a Maplewood/South Orange property.

With an $800,000 total budget it might be possible to find a very small , very dilapidated home in some sections of Millburn or Summit for $600,000 to $700,000 and put 100K to 200K into it -but it would not be easy and your choices would be very very limited.

With an $800,000 budget you could purchase a $400,000 to $600,000 property in Maplewood and South Orange and go to town. Properties in need of work sell for deep discounts so you would likely get a nice house with great bones in need of a lot of work. If you are patient, you would have some good choices.

I don't think it would be feasible to build with that kind of budget. I have been told that the cost to build is around $200 per sq ft. So if you spent $400,000 on a lot you would be able to build a 2000 sq ft house. Lots that price do not exist in Millburn/Short Hills or Summit and lots of any kind are very rare in Maplewood/South Orange, particularly at that price.

If your budget is $800,000 for the purchase your options to build would still be limited. Most buildable properties in Summit/Millburn and Short Hills sell for over $1,000,000. at $800,000 you would get a property that either has a challenged lot or a challenged location.

Your options for renovation with an $800,000 for the purchase are much better. You would have a somewhat limited choice in Millburn/Short Hills, where the median sale price is over $1,200,000.

You would likely find some good choices for renovation in Millburn/Short Hills in the Wyoming, South Mountain and Glenwood sections in that price range. the Wyoming section adjoins the Jefferson Section of Maplewood. There are beautiful Victorians and colonials there with a few midcentury modern houses thrown in as well. South Mountain is mostly Colonials and Tudors on small postage stamp lots. Glenwood in Short Hills is between the Short Hills train station and Millburn Avenue. Small, well kept colonials on very small lots. Millburn has enacted zoning that strictly limits the percentage of the lot that can be built on and many Glenwood homes are at or above that requirement, so the opportunities to buy a Glenwood house to expand would be limited.

In Summit in the $700,000s to $800,000s there has been more for sale, but they are mostly split level homes.

In Maplewood or South Orange, an $800,000 budget to purchase a house in need of renovation would give you a lot of great choices. I know of several that will be coming up in the next 1 to 2 years. if you PM me your email I will send you more info.

There is/was a beautiful hoise on Academy in South Orange for 400-something. Needed serious work, and, oddly, didn't have a driveway

I'm always looking at listings and honestly, I don't see too many bargains out there, even if a house needs tons of renovations. I'm no expert but I've renovated two homes top to bottom--casually looking for my next project--and it's difficult to justify having to spend $200k in renovations on a $5-600k house if homes in the neighborhood don't sell that high.

saw an empty lot for sale sign on Curtis today
looks like its pending/has an offer
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11-15-Curtis-Pl-Maplewood-NJ-07040/2107606612_zpid/

rowerg said:
I may be incorrect, but I believe that Cami with Studio Verte did the plans on her own home that added a second floor to that structure. It turned out very well from my point of view.
We have used Cami for design work on several projects inside and outside our home with good satisfaction. Her contact information is:

Camilla Zelevansky, AIA
Studio Vert Architecture
411 Ridgewood Road
Maplewood, NJ 07040
p. 917-647-1667
cami@studiovert.net

If you desire to meet w/her there, I recommend you act lickety-split.

I know some people who like a neighborhood/area so much they want to live there but hate the housing stock. Specifically, they like the character of the structures but would like more conveniences like central air, bigger rooms, closet space, etc without trying to renovate.

I've been envious of the ones that could AFFORD to buy a house, tear down the house, and rebuild without the changing the aesthetics of the neighborhood.

I believe it's really rare for someone to tear down a house completely and replace it without actually destroying the esthetics of a neighborhood.  I challenge anyone to post a picture where what I said is not the case.