One of our favorite pastimes is looking at properties. On a lazy Sunday afternoon or in evenings after dinner, we could be found combing through listings on Zillow, discussing their comparative pricing and evaluating the potential of each property.

View of Site from the Northeast, March 2017

Sometime late December 2016 early January 2017, I found a unique listing for a small odd-shaped lot located in a mixed one-to-four family/townhouse residential area, a short walking distance to the beach and nearby shops. I sent the listing over to my husband and he told me he's been monitoring the property over the years and the price has been significantly reduced in the past year. We were both enthralled by the idea of building our own house and for the next month it was the only thing we could talk about.  I told him about my dream of building a modern passive house and we discovered that our design aesthetics were very similar.  We did some initial digging, looking at other listings and past sales in the area and there weren't any real comps or homes we liked better.

The Site

Survey of Property, April 2012 (Garage and Concrete Slab removed prior to 2016)

The site is tiny, no more than 50 ft by 60 ft with a chunk taken out of the southwest corner.  It was a 'postage stamp' as many people told us but the front of the site faced north onto a quiet one-way street and the back of the lot was within a few degrees of due south, neighboring a single-story cottage, so the orientation of the property was perfect for passive solar gains. I'm sure the size of the lot was a huge deterrent for most potential buyers but we saw the potential. Plans for a traditional colonial home were also approved for construction by the Long Branch Zoning Board of Adjustment so we felt reasonably sure that we could build the home we wanted.

We contacted the broker and put in an offer the beginning of February 2017 and it was accepted. Given the prior non-conforming nature of the lot, we requested a 45-day due diligence period prior to closing and we were in contract the middle of February.