Two houses on my property

So this is going to be quite a ramble, and I'm not even sure what my main question is, but I would really appreciate some comments from some people wiser in this area than I. Please ask questions if I have left any info out; I could only guess at what info was relevant here, and as such, included some stray facts and questions to help explain things.

We bought a property in May, consisting of 3 parcels. The large parcel includes our home, but it also has a 2nd home in its "backyard." The second home is much older, and actually faces a road and has its own address. We, of course, live in the nice, newer house. The new one is essentially the house we bought, but now we also own the old home on the property (and paid for it too). But now, we're wondering what to do with it.

Our mortgage company has told us that if we add ~18,000 in value to our property, we can refinance with a significantly better interest rate. Even though the second home is not a primary residence (though it is on the property of our primary residence), if we renovate the second house to make it livable, even if no one is presently living in it, can we get a new appraisal of both homes together and increase the total value of the property? Maybe that's my main question there.

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Stray facts:

-- The appraisal that accompanied our buying process referred to the second home (since it was unlivable) as a workshop

-- The mother of the previous owner lived in the old home for years; when she died, they moved into it, and subsequently had the new house built on the property.

-- The old house was gutted. e.g. it's missing some of the plumbing and fixtures, hot water tank, furnace.

-- the old house has its own separate physical address, but the county assessor shows that it's on the same parcel as our own home

-- We did have an inspector of sorts give the place a decent once-over, and they reported back that there are some utilities and other necessary updates, but otherwise, though it's dirty and clearly unlived-in for many years, it's got pretty good bones and no foundation issues.

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Stray questions:

-- a dumb one . . . I suppose my property tax paid to the county will go up if we renovate the house up to being livable?

-- are there any unforeseen (to me) consequences of owning two livable residences, but only living in one? I'm thinking about confusing the mortgage company, messing up my taxes, etc. (I don't really even know what else.

-- what makes a house livable, technically-speaking? Is there even a technical meaning of the word?

-- anyone else with a clever idea of what to do with the property? Demolishing would be pricier, and honestly provide little to no benefit. Leaving it there is just a bit of an eyesore, but that's it.

submitted by /u/brmoser
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/ko57sf/two_houses_on_my_property/