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needleinacamelseye t1_j9czqtf wrote

It's going to depend on what condition the vacant house is in (is there a roof? are the floors intact? are walls crumbling?) and on the cost of labor. I once heard that it costs about $150/sq. ft. to do a full renovation/refinish of a shell of a rowhouse, but I can't remember where I saw that number or what it includes.

Edit: I found this paper from last year which estimates that the cost/sq. ft. to bring a vacant up to code is between $100 and $200/sq. ft.

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Responsible-Type-392 t1_j9e2nzp wrote

This is the correct answer. Anywhere from $100 to $200 per sq. foot.

Coincidentally that is around the cost to just build your own home.

Edit: on a side note- I really hate the look of Formstone. If you don’t know what it is, it’s the facade of the building and it’s covering up beautiful brick. It’s difficult to remove without damaging the brick beneath.

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Gov_Martin_OweMalley t1_j9evogk wrote

I know materials costs are still high post covid but starting to drop back down to normal, Id err on the high side right now.

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AreWeCowabunga t1_j9flhed wrote

Yeah, there's really not a huge financial upside to rehabbing a vacant vs. starting over from scratch. It's one of the reasons the vacant problem in the city is so intractable. It just doesn't make financial sense to rehab them.

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Typical-Radish4317 t1_j9fssvy wrote

It's why the city shouldn't let people sit on vacants and should absolutely have programs that keep people in houses. Making cosmetic changes is a heck of a lot cheaper than a complete tear down

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DoNotWeepAtMyGrave t1_j9g1h5x wrote

There are 14,000 vacants in Baltimore. You’d expect the city to front the cost to repair them? It costs $15k to demolish them and $100k to make them habitable.

Say hello to doubled taxes…

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