I wanna build homes - Posted by TheycallmeJoe

Posted by Theycallmejoe on April 13, 2002 at 20:22:08:

by the way who is RAY? Actually im in california. I guess you dont know of any websites?

I wanna build homes - Posted by TheycallmeJoe

Posted by TheycallmeJoe on April 13, 2002 at 06:44:29:

I have noticed that not too many of you are developers, instead you all seem to find and buy built homes. I wanted to get into devloping and wanted to know if any of you had any skills or information you would like to give me. I would also like to know of any good websites that on Land Developing that would teach me the HOW-TO. Thanks a lot!

Re: I wanna build homes - Posted by eric-fl

Posted by eric-fl on April 15, 2002 at 14:42:03:

Do a search on Amazon.com for “Zuckerman”, I think it is, he has very extensive manuals on commercial-level development and investment. A lot of developers actually funnel in from the construction industry, and are people who already have a General Contractors license. Therefore, they already know a lot about what goes into building a house. If you’re not there, a lot of people start out doing what’s called a “spec build”, short for speculation. The idea is, you buy a lot and build a house on it with no particular buyer in mind, then go and sell it when it’s finished. After doing many of these, and a reputation is created, it then becomes easier to line-up buyers in advance, which is obviously much better from a cash-flow standpoint. The top of this is of course when buy large tracts of land, subdivide, and then build several houses all at once. This is how the larger builders operate, and they typically have a model home on the site staffed with full-time agents, thus, they can sell either before, during, or after the build process, and the houses in the neighborhood become more like a regular business inventory at that point. You’ll also need to decide if you want to be a custom, semi-custom, or tract builder. Custom should be self-explanatory, and by definition requires buyers in advance. Semi-custom can be done by either small or large builder. In fact, I live in a semi-custom home that was started by someone else that I bought towards the end of the project. In semi-custom, you start with a preset floor plan, then modify things slightly to suit buyer’s individual tastes. Tract homes are also pretty self-explanatory, we’ve all seen subdivisions with row after row of the same two or three houses. These are usually less expensive to the buyer, and can save the developer on costs due to economies of scale.

Depends - Posted by NCPaul

Posted by NCPaul on April 13, 2002 at 15:34:52:

How strong are your financials and the bank accounts to back them up? If you are strong enough you can get started without experience, even though this isn’t the best idea I have ever heard. The problem is going to be getting the loan to do the project unless you have experience in development. I would reccommend checking out the archives here in the commercial forum for books on development. Ray has some good reading material for you to get hold of. If you are in NC I am also looking for development minded cohorts to get a deal started, let me know and maybe we can see if there is anything we can do for each other to make the development team stronger and do something we could put in the “success story” section of this site!

Good Luck

Re: Depends - Posted by Todd H.

Posted by Todd H. on April 14, 2002 at 21:20:00:

Paul,

In reference to your request for NC partners, I would be interested in speaking with you further about doing some development work. I have strong financials and are currently looking to do rehab investing. I have all my financing lined up with a local bank and would love to hear about what you have in mind.

Give me your contact info and let’s schedule a time to speak.

Thanks,

Todd H.