This is a renovation we just completed in the heart of Nashville, TN. In an area popular with builders for tearing down existing homes and building new, we opted instead to renovate the existing 1950 built home, and maintain it’s charm and character. I’m not a fan of the tall skinny HPR’s. An HPR is a horizontal property regime- it’s where you build two houses on one lot. To do so, builders tear down the existing structures and build two tall, skinny houses right next door to each other; often they will share a wall. They are so close you can reach out a window with your arm and touch the house next door. They don’t have the same value as single family homes. Some buyers are attracted to the new build aspect of them. Affordability often plays a factor. Buyers who can’t afford a single family home in their desired location, sometimes CAN afford to buy an HPR.

Back to our story. We did consider tearing down and building new on this lot. We haven’t built a new construction yet, and we’d love to learn. After researching, we discovered that a sewer line bordered our property, and that because of that, we’d have to build two extra skinny tall ones, and we just didn’t want to do that. As I said, I don’t like them, and I know there are buyers who avoid them as well. They are controversial. If I build, I want to appeal to the widest demographic possible, and build something that at least 80% of the buying population would buy. That increases our chances of a fast, clean sale. So, knowing that building new was out for us, we went about the task of renovating