Central Tucson Homes and Non-permitted Additions

A quick shout out to my Raytheon readers. Engineers, unite! Form of… ah, an iPhone?

I’m spending time this week showing Central Tucson homes to a client, trying to stay under $200,000, with at least 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, central air conditioner, and - preferably - covered parking.

Central Tucson is largely homes from the 1950s and 1960s. Lots of red brick ranches, some slump block homes, a few burnt adobes. The classic central Tucson home is a wire cut double red brick: a personal favorite.

Because of the era those homes were built, you won’t find many garages. Carports, yes, usually single car. Given that these homes have been sitting around for 60 years, many people have either made the carports into small garages, or enclosed them so that the original carport area is now living space. The house I live in started it’s life as a little 2 bed, 1 bath house, and now the original carport area is a master suite, and the original patio is now an Arizona room. This was all done before I purchased it.

Here’s what freaks out newcomers: a lot of folks, historically, didn’t bother getting permits when they made that kind of addition to the house. Welcome to Central Tucson.

As a real estate agent who does a fair bit of business in Central Tucson, I’m pretty good at spotting additions. It’s my job to warn you if I spot a potential addition, and that it may not be permitted. Based on the quality of the addition, sometimes I know pretty confidently if it’s been permitted by the City of Tucson or not. If you’re concerned, we can always check public records down at the Public Works building downtown.

Here’s the thing: technically, the city has a variety of options if they discover you have a non-permitted addition. They can make you rip it down, bring it up to current code standards, charge you taxes on the extra square footage that you haven’t been paying taxes on all these years. Lots of scary options.

Now, I love Central Tucson. I live in Central Tucson. There’s a good chance every house I’ve ever owned in Central Tucson has had non-permitted changes. Many homes have them, and most Sellers won’t retrofit for permits when they sell. Given that houses change hands every 5-7 years on average, most Sellers bought the house with unpermitted additions and have lived with it that way for many years. That’s just the way we roll in Central.

Again, as a real estate agent, it’s my job to warn you of the risks of buying a home with unpermitted additions. If you’re planning on big renovations, or adding on a guest house, you really ought to be concerned, especially if you plan on getting permits for the work you’ll have done. It’s a topic to discuss with your agent, if you’re considering Central Tucson homes.

Here’s what to watch for:

Seams in the brick/block wall, especially at the front of the house where a carport opening might once have been.
A change in building materials: from brick to siding, for example.
A change in height between rooms, especially at the back or side of the house where there might have been a step up between the carport and the main house, or a step down between the patio and the main house.
Rooms without air ducts, or with only window A/C units.
Changes in wall thickness at doorways. Double red brick houses will have exterior walls that are as thick as the long length of a brick. If the doorway to a den or bedroom is twice as thick as the other wall openings, you’re probably walking into an addition.
Sloping ceilings. Patio roofs tend to have a lot of slope, while original interior ceilings are usually flat. If a patio was enclosed, chances are the roof will slope.
Changes in wall texture. If the rest of the house is a plaster-ish texture and one bedroom is a knock-down texture, something happened.