Tear-Down Remodel on Apalachee
If you’ve never driven down Apalachee Road in South Lake Tahoe, you might not realize how epic the views are.
Down-sloping lots line the West side of the street offering incredible views of Tallac and the whole west range. Most of these lots were swooped up in the Sixties and Seventies and the older houses are a testament to the quick-and-cheap style of construction that was popular back then. Many of the houses were built with sub-par materials and with the unforgiving Winters in South Lake Tahoe, not all of the old construction can stand the test of time. This remodel is a classic old-Tahoe house that hasn’t weathered the storms so well and it’s about to come all the way down, making room for a contemporary custom that will take full advantage of this amazing location.
Some of the older construction in Tahoe is salvageable but many of the houses need to be completely torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. In comparison to developing a lot from scratch, a tear-down offers a few advantages for investors. The biggest advantage with a ground-up remodel is having more choice on the quality of the lot and the location. Only a certain amount of land is buildable in the Tahoe basin. Conservancy lots, national forest land and the terrain itself, limit how much land can be developed. Since many of the best lots are already built on, buying an old house and tearing it down is a sure way to get into a highly desirable neighborhood and be sure to have a certain amount of coverage.
Buying a tear-down in Tahoe, you’ll be able to take advantage of the footprint of the existing structure since coverage is grandfathered in with the lot. If the lot doesn’t have an IPES score, a site assessment will be needed to determine if any more coverage is available. Coverage is the amount of ground that can be covered with a structure and it’s decided by TRPA. For example, the existing structure on Apalachee is 1,603 square feet and the new one will be 3,380. Although it depends on the size of the lot and the IPES score, it’s likely a much larger house can be built on most lots.
We’ll be documenting the process of this build so you can learn more about what to expect on a ground-up remodel. There are still ways to break into the Tahoe real estate market and buying a tear-down is a great way to secure a premium location.
