Many of the opportunities we have as investors involve the chance to purchase homes needing repairs that the typical retail buyer doesn’t want to tackle or is afraid to tackle, such as issues involving illegal work done at the property.

What makes something illegal when it comes to work done on a property? The fact that a permit which was required in order to do the work was not applied for with the appropriate local governmental agency.

The work, even if done well and to code, doesn’t have a bearing on whether it was ILLEGALLY done.

“To code” means that the work meets local building guidelines which may have been approved had the proper paperwork been done in advance. After the fact, even good work costs more to permit and correct as far as the paperwork is concerned.