Anybody ever have to deal with flooding in a garage apartment?

I'm thinking of potentially purchasing a house inside the loop (not in the floodplain) that has a known issue with flooding in the 600 sq.ft. 1-bedroom detached garage apartment (the main house does not have any issues with flooding).

The garage apartment already requires quite a bit of renovation work, so if I move forward with the deal, I'd be doing a complete renovation of it anyways.

The current tenant of the garage unit has been living there for 18 years. I spoke with her about the flooding and she indicated that if it rains really hard, and doesn't move along for two days or so, there's a chance she'll get water. It starts in the back corner of the unit (opposite from the front and only entrance) and comes up from under the bathroom. She currently has false bottoms in the closets for this reason. She mentioned that a tiny bit may go along the back wall as well.

The next place that water would enter is from the kitchen. The tenant has a pump and if she puts that next to the bathroom, it does a pretty good job of staying ahead of it.

When I viewed the garage unit in person, my initial thought was to slope the driveway more because I figured the water was coming in through the front. But now it sounds like the main problem is water coming through the back (there is no back door to the unit; on a front entrance).

Anyone have any experience in rehabbing something like this? I was hoping to spend no more than $10,000 on rehabbing the entire 600 sq. ft. unit (floor, cabinets, counter tops, sinks, paint, bathroom, shower stall, etc.). The goal is to rent it out for approx. $1,000/month.

Doable? Or steer clear?

 

I was thinking this as well, but she has been living in the unit since the 1990's and has been dealing with flooding since Allison.

If this was an issue with the main house, I would definitely be steering clear. The main house is about 4 or 5 steps above ground on a pier and beam foundation, so there is no issue. I had the house inspected and this was confirmed.

For what it's worth, the current owner has been in the house since 1988, so it's not someone who is bailing on a property they recently bought.

 

Will look into this when I'm at the property this weekend. One issue we noticed when the inspector was there is that there's no way to get back behind the garage unit (other than using a ladder and scaling the entire roof of the garage). Since the tenant said water typically enters from the back of the unit first, this seems problematic.

 

There's a huge tree stump to the right of the driveway....I'm going to request that to be removed because I think it'll allow for alley access to the back of the garage unit. The garage tenant is currently using a sump pump. Interesting thought on the drain tile, I'll look into that.

The thing is, the current owner doesn't seem to be the most construction savvy person, so this might be a totally easy fix (she is in her late 80's and lives alone).

 

Very helpful, thanks! That $3,500 would be very well spent. The current tenant of the garage is only paying $450 a month since she's been living there for 18 years and I'm sure her rent hasn't gone up at all since then.

If I renovate the whole unit ($10,000 budget) and fix the flooding issue ($3,500 budget), I'm pretty sure I could rent out the place for close to $1,200 a month. It's in a pretty sweet location in Montrose.

 

Good stuff, gentlemen. My dad is a structural engineer so he's going to go out there later this week to look at the foundation of the garage. I called a drainage contractor to take a look as well.

 

I agree with you 100%. But that's life. She is more than welcome to sign a lease with me once I fix up the place, but she'll have to pay market rent.

 

I was thinking the same think.

Just goes to show you that Houstonians have a soft spot (no pun) for flooded homes.