The Real Estate Development Business - ask/say anything

[Scott Choppin]

Hi Everyone: 

I was thinking to open up a space for an "anything goes" thread, where the topic is real estate development and development deal making. It could be anything: questions, war stories, best deal, worst deal, advice on careers in RED, even general complaining  and/or praise about anything to do with RED.

Anything goes.....

Scott

[Sarah Lorenz]

@Pavan Sandhu @Scott Choppin I can chime in on modular with a single anecdote: I thought I had a brilliant idea a couple of years ago, to use a modular unit on an infill lot--in our region, the modular home prices are quite low, almost always used in inexpensive, rural areas. I thought that I could take advantage of this low regional price and put one of these units on an infill lot in a high per-square-foot city setting, using a modular company about an hour away. After months of tedious cost-estimating with three builders, it turned out to be more expensive to use the modular unit than to do a stick-built house. As Scott pointed out, the transportation of the modular adds significantly to the cost. The other thing that I discovered was that although they will tell you that the units can be customized in any way, it really isn't that simple. To get the lower cost units they advertise, you really have to go with the low-end finishes that most of their cost-conscious buyers choose. When we wanted the higher-end finishes that our market demanded (wood floors, granite, cement board siding, etc.), we found that those were not available or could not be factory installed and transported like lower-end finishes (carpet, vinyl, laminate). We were also pushing the builders out of their comfort zone by requesting these finishes and requesting a location they were not familiar with, one that they perceived as being difficult to work with in terms of permits, etc. So our costs came in very high, nearly as much as if we had hired a local custom builder.