Two people can look at the same Midtown cottage and see two entirely different properties for sale. One sees a 1930s bungalow with original hardwood, a claw-foot tub, and a porch worth restoring. The other sees a parcel zoned Mixed Use with no cap on density, sitting three blocks from South Virginia Street, worth exactly what can legally be built on it. Both are right. Neither is looking at the whole picture on their own.

That split is not a coincidence of taste. It traces back to a specific rezoning decision that most current Midtown homeowners never heard about, and it still shapes what your house is actually worth today.

The Rezoning That Still Prices Every Listing

Midtown's district boundaries run roughly from Liberty Street down to Plumb Lane, between Arlington Avenue and Holcomb Avenue. Homes there started going up in the early 1900s, filling in subdivisions with names like Crampton's Addition, the Steiner Tract, the Southside Addition, Villa Court, and the Sierra Vista Tract, as ranch land along the Truckee Meadows converted to housing.

Those bungalows and cottages sat in an ordinary residential district for decades. Then, as part of a transit-oriented development plan, the city rezoned the entire area to Mixed Use. The rezoning removed the maximum density cap on housing units per acre, set a height limit of 45 feet, reduced side setbacks to 5 feet, and cut parking requirements by as much as half. Existing homes that did not conform to the new standards were grandfathered in, which is why the neighborhood still looks the way it does today even though the zoning underneath it changed completely.

That single decision created two buyer pools for the same block of houses. One pool is a family who wants the house. The other is a builder who wants the dirt underneath it, because Mixed Use zoning with no density cap means the lot can support more than a single-family footprint. When both pools are bidding on your listing, the finished square footage in your kitchen is only part of what determines the offer.

What the Dual Market Means for Your Price

If you price a Midtown listing purely against recently sold, similarly finished homes, you are answering only half the question a serious buyer is asking. Here is what that split market actually changes for a seller:

• Comps get less reliable the closer you are to South Virginia Street. A restored bungalow two blocks off the commercial corridor and a similar bungalow deep in a quiet residential pocket can carry very different land premiums, even if the houses themselves appraise almost identically.
• Cash offers from builders often ignore interior condition. A dated kitchen or original 1940s wiring will not move a land-value offer much, because the buyer's plan may not include keeping the structure at all.
• A traditional buyer's financing terms depend on the house passing inspection, which means the two offers you receive on the same listing can differ in speed, contingencies, and risk in ways that a single list price does not capture.
• The ADU ordinance below adds a third path, letting an owner add value without selling to a developer at all.

Knowing which pool you are marketing to before you set a price is the difference between a listing that undersells the land and one that scares off a family who would have loved the house.

What a Sewer Scope Turns Up on These Blocks

If your buyer is the kind who wants the house, not the lot, the inspection is where Midtown's age becomes a real number. Many homes in this part of Reno still run on sewer laterals installed decades ago, and a standard home inspection does not look at that line. It takes a separate camera inspection, called a sewer scope, to see it.

Local inspectors report that sewer laterals in older in-town Reno neighborhoods are frequently made of Orangeburg pipe, a tar-based material used from the 1940s through the 1970s, or older clay tile. Both deteriorate with age and are prone to root intrusion and cracking. A standalone sewer scope in the Reno-Sparks area typically runs between $150 and $250. If the camera finds a problem, the range widens fast: minor spot repairs run around $3,000, while a full lateral replacement can run $25,000 or more depending on depth and access.

That is not a defect you can see by walking the property, and it is exactly the kind of finding that shows up mid-transaction rather than before you list. Ordering the scope yourself ahead of time, or at least budgeting for the possibility, keeps a surprise from turning into a renegotiation two weeks before closing.

The Paperwork That Can Stall or Protect a Sale

Nevada is a disclosure state, and the mechanics are worth understanding before you sign anything. Under NRS 113.130, a seller must complete a Seller's Real Property Disclosure form covering known conditions affecting the property, and the law is specific that a seller's agent cannot fill it out on the seller's behalf. If a signed disclosure statement is not provided, the buyer can terminate an otherwise binding purchase agreement and pursue other remedies under NRS 113.150. The Nevada Real Estate Division's disclosure form walks through the specific questions, from sewer and septic systems to solar panels to private transfer fee obligations, and it is worth reading in full rather than skimming.

Layered on top of that is a federal requirement almost every early Midtown-era home triggers. The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 requires sellers of any home built before 1978 to provide the EPA's lead pamphlet, disclose known lead-based paint hazards, and give buyers a 10-day window to conduct their own lead inspection or risk assessment before the sale can close. Given that most of Midtown's original housing stock predates 1978 by decades, this is not an edge case here. It is close to a default.

One more timing detail matters if you are planning any repairs before you list. As of January 1, 2026, the City of Reno only accepts building plans under the 2024 edition of the building codes. If you are pulling a permit for anything from an electrical panel upgrade to a bathroom remodel ahead of putting the house on the market, that timing affects how your application gets reviewed.

The ADU Lever Most Sellers Never Consider

Not every Midtown seller wants to hand the property to a builder or restore it for a family buyer as-is. There is a third option the 2007 rezoning also opened up, and it has gotten more useful in the last year. Nevada's AB 383 requires cities to allow accessory dwelling units by right in single-family zones, with ministerial approval and no public hearing. Reno's own ADU ordinance, adopted by City Council on October 8, 2025, put that into local code, allowing units up to 1,200 square feet with no owner-occupancy requirement and a 45-day permit processing window.

For a Midtown lot already zoned Mixed Use with reduced setbacks, that is a legitimate way to add a second legal structure and increase the property's income potential before you ever list it, rather than leaving that value for a builder to capture after closing. It will not be the right move for every seller, but it is worth a real conversation before you decide which of the two buyer pools you want to court.

Pricing the House and the Lot as Two Separate Questions

The practical takeaway is straightforward even if the mechanics behind it are not. A Midtown listing has an improvement value and a land value, and they do not move together. Comparable sales of finished, similarly sized homes tell you about the first number. Recent land transactions and builder activity nearby tell you about the second. A price that only accounts for one of them either leaves money on the table with a developer buyer or scares away a family buyer with a number that only makes sense if the house comes down.

Before you set a list price, it is worth walking the block with someone who can price both halves of that equation, not just the one that shows up on a standard appraisal.

If you are weighing whether to sell your Midtown home as-is, add an ADU first, or price it for its land value, Shelby Smith NV can walk the numbers with you before you commit to a strategy. Let's Connect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my Midtown home need a sewer scope before I list it? Nevada does not require one by law, but given how common aging Orangeburg and clay pipe are in this part of Reno, ordering one ahead of a buyer's inspection lets you address or disclose any issue on your own timeline rather than during a contingency period.

Do I still need to disclose lead paint if my home has been fully renovated? Yes. The federal disclosure requirement is tied to the home's construction date, not its current condition. Any home built before 1978 requires the EPA pamphlet, a lead disclosure, and a 10-day inspection window for the buyer regardless of recent updates.

Can I build an ADU and still sell the main house separately? An ADU stays with the property, it cannot be subdivided off and sold on its own lot. What it can do is add legal rentable square footage that a buyer, whether a family or an investor, may be willing to pay more for.