The view is awesome but you will need an architect to even begin this journey and I live on a piece with slopes on 3 sides of my home and landscaping is alsmost impossible but we love the house and the view. I think worth having it checked out for but I am pretty sure the house will cost more than 450K to build for sure and IMO being a landlord is never ideal

Consult with a local architect that can help take in the myriad of factors that effect your decision. What you save in purchase price may be spent in engineering and construction.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting Yeah the view is awesome, I have budgeted around $450-600 to build, but my dream is to to build like multiple townhouses which is going to cost even more so that i can sell the rest or rent it out. Building a single family house too is not not bad, but i just... sigh... I asked an architect to design proof of concept for me

@Mark Bischak, Architect Spending it on construction is not the issue, but would it be worth it. As the location is prime, and view is top notch, does the risk outweigh the benefit

@Charles Ross Homes thanks for your input, my realtor consulted with one of his builder, they kinda said that the foundation alone would take up major percentage of the budget. How much do you think i might likely spend for the foundation of a singly family house or a multifamily? Geo-engineer is a must and that medic to check my sanity because it seems like i got charmed by the lot.

Engineering/geological study?

The old adage "all real estate is local" applies equally well to construction costs. You need to check with local professionals about cost and feasibility.

You might want to determine the feasibility of insuring anything placed on the property.

If you are going to base your decision on advice from people that have read a couple paragraphs and seen a few pictures about the site, perhaps you should pass.

Rule of thumb with view lots

Value of great lots, less asking price of this lot is usually less than the cost to make it great.

Examples of what I hear often: "This lot is only $200K but the others are $500K. What a bargain"

Me: " there is more than $300K worth of grading, retaining walls, special foundation work needed to make this lot viable.

Sometimes there are exceptions, this isn't it.

Need at least a seven figure budget.

Unless you have very deep pockets to cover all the unknowns, sounds risky. What are the values of neighboring properties?

The main road, train tracks and commercial businesses in your backyard do not make up for any views you might have. Sound will travel up the hill/slope day and night, making any outdoor space unpleasant. Make sure you also include in your budget using the best windows available, to stop all that noise from also coming into the house.

All of the comments are valid and should be considered! I notice that there are two other properties on the street that look like single family homes, perhaps a conversation with the residents would be valuable to gain the pros and cons of actually living on that site. Additionally, is it zoned for multi-family homes?

Can you built just on the upper third of the lot as the home to the left of the lot has done? If you want rental make it a duplex unit - either side by side or upstairs/downstairs. Yes, the other 2/3rds of the lot will remain vacant but you 1. Get your views; 2. Risk will be a lot less so insurance, engineering, construction costs will be less too; and 3. City council may be more likely to approve - that is unless one of the council members owns the house across the street whose view you will be blocking.

Where is this located? What is erosion like? Any earthquake or climate change risks of note?

Your budget is viable for the engineering studies, plans, fights with the city, and some beginning engineering response to the site. To finish the engineering, and completely build a home after than though? No, that isn't a realistic budget given the challenges of the site.

Methinks you're not in the Hollywood Hills, where unlimited egos and budgets to match make such builds feasible.

Edwin Castro $25.5m house in the Hollywood Hills Source: Dirt Roman James, Design/Build

What Mark said. This is going to require an architect , soil experts, and a structural engineer. And I would bet you'd spend at least $1 million on the build. And the fact that the lot overlooks an industrial area probably accounts for the lower price, regardless of the view.

So, in all, I think you're better off finding a more expensive lot that's easier to build on.

I could be wrong, but the neighbor at the bottom of the slope may have caused the erosion to the site in question in the construction of their building and revisions they made to their site; and the row of shipping containers in the parking lot could be part of a creative retaining wall system.

There is absolutely nothing attractive about that site with the view down the mountain. There's a reason it's so cheap. When buying remember the three rules:

Location

Location

Location

Is it zoned for multifamily? What are the setbacks? The lot does not look very big? Is this considered a hillside lot with more rigid ordinances? I think cost would be very expensive, much more than your budget. We have single family homes being built into the sides of the mountain where I live and the construction budgets are in the multi millions for one home. I would also be worried about sound travel from the road below. The erosion would concern me The close proximety of the neighbor below would also worry me. If you find anything out from your architect, let us know!!

There are ways, of course, to design a house to fit the site . . .

Sturges House by Frank Lloyd Wright

Now that Robert Silman has passed away, I wonder who's on call to remedy Frank's structural errors and omissions.

It may be a black hole.

Or a blockbuster movie entitled "Righting the Wright Stuff."

Often what is needed is finding bedrock to build the foundstion and at least double the budget for sure /IMO the view is awesome and you could build something that gave you the better view from a weel planned and designed house but deep pockets are needed for even a single family home .

In your area, do you have heavy rains and/or earthquakes...? If you can find a geotechnical engineer, ask her/him the cost to stabilize the entire hillside...then pour yourself a large glass of wine and enjoy it while congratulating yourself on not buying that property...

Have you visited the site during and after a long, hard rain? It sure looks like erosion and water management would be big concerns.

I see snow. Don't buy it.

My brother's house is on a similar lot, with a three bridge view looking out at the Golden Gate. I can understand why someone did it, but the house verges on unlivable, with basically one room on each floor, extending five stories down the side of the cliff. The person who built it lost their shirt on resale. It was a couple million worth of engineering and foundation work alone and sold for a small fraction of what went into it. Unless you have a *lot* of spare cash that you don't ever need back I'd file it with the unfulfilled dreams. You can probably rent a vacation house with a spectacular view for a month every year for the rest of your life and come out ahead financially.

I've never read a post in this forum with such lyrical prose. You should try your hand at writing novels. But...you keep asking whether or not it is "worth" it. The only person that can answer that is you, certainly not people here who are only looking at photos and have no idea what the construction costs would be.

I think you are blinded by your fantasy idea and have completely missed the surrounding negatives.

@Charles Ross Homes I'm cheering your comment. My feelings exactly. I know most people go gaga over him, but I curse his name. Arrogant shmuck who didn't give a hoot about engineering. Sure, anyone can contrive a cool design if they don't care whether it has any structural integrity.

Here's a luxe home not far from us built on a slope one-third as vertiginous. Five levels containing six bedrooms, 11 baths and an elevator, natch.

As I watched the foundation going in, all I could think was, "What a lot of concrete!"

You might want to find out more about the person who is selling this plot. Maybe they went through what you are planning to go through and realize it was not possible. They obviously won't tell you, a potential suc..I mean buyer, but the neighbors might know, heck if you call the architectures firms in town, they might be one who already worked on that project. Good luck with it all, and be sure to let us know if you should decide to purchase, we all want to be on that journey with you!

Looks like one wildfire and a monsoon away from disaster.

I have made a very nice living doing projects my competitiors said "Can't be done." More rewarding than the financial is the ego boost; nearly addictive. If you can do that here, it will be amazing.

Someone ahead of you paid too much for that lot or it would be sold. Don't trade places with him please. After consulting with the appropriate professionals, I'd ask the seller to take his inevitable beating to make the project viable. He may be looking forward to the relief afterward. All the naysayers here are working in your favor.

I would make sure that whatever you build is insurable and check with the property owner below to see if they plan getting legal to prevent a build on that lot. I anticipate that the owner below will have big concerns about that cliff being further destabilized.

Any Common sense should steer you away from this money pit that will bury you and the people down hill, and concentrate finding another manageable money pit with a chance you could dig out of. Toxic waste dump and nuclear testing site could be an alternative.