Crowdsourcing construction financing ideas for two new single family homes

Architect · New York City & Pittsburgh · Member since 2014 · 4 posts · 0 votes

Hello everyone! I am working on lining up construction financing for two new single family homes in Pittsburgh. My partner and I own the land, the site is cleared and ready. We have trade subs lined up and hard costs dialed in. We have zoning approval as well as building permits. Comps in the neighborhood are looking good. So, we are looking for construction financing lenders, either conventional or private lenders or suggestions for alternative financing options. Curious especially if anyone has experience crowdfunding their projects. Any and all recommendations, referrals, or ideas would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

Elena

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Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
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Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Elena Bresciani:

Hello everyone! I am working on lining up construction financing for two new single family homes in Pittsburgh. My partner and I own the land, the site is cleared and ready. We have trade subs lined up and hard costs dialed in. We have zoning approval as well as building permits. Comps in the neighborhood are looking good. So, we are looking for construction financing lenders, either conventional or private lenders or suggestions for alternative financing options. Curious especially if anyone has experience crowdfunding their projects. Any and all recommendations, referrals, or ideas would be much appreciated!
Thank you!
Elena

crowdfunding something this small will not be cost prohibitive. You will spend $10-$20k to setup all the documents in order to crowd fund.
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Andrew PostellPro Member
Lender · Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 6k+ votes
2y
@Elena Bresciani several different lenders have new build, construction loans available for you. Ask around with other investors in that market. Use Facebook and join the real estate investor group pages. Thousands of local investors on those and there you should find some recommendations.
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Elena Bresciani
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Architect · New York City & Pittsburgh · Member since 2014 · 4 posts · 0 votes
2y
Quote from @Chris Seveney:
crowdfunding something this small will not be cost prohibitive. You will spend $10-$20k to setup all the documents in order to crowd fund.
Thanks for your response! What do you think is the tipping point / right sized project for crowdfunding to be worthwhile?

Elena
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Elena Bresciani
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Architect · New York City & Pittsburgh · Member since 2014 · 4 posts · 0 votes
2y
Quote from @Andrew Postell:

@Elena Bresciani several different lenders have new build, construction loans available for you. Ask around with other investors in that market. Use Facebook and join the real estate investor group pages. Thousands of local investors on those and there you should find some recommendations.
Thanks for your response! I checked out of Facebook ages ago. It's wild to now be rejoining for business opportunities. :)
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Stuart UdisPro Member
Attorney · Philadelphia · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
2y
Elena,
If you own the land with issued permits unencumbered by any debt banks should be able to finance all of the site and vertical improvements herein. Depending on the value of the land and cost of the entitlements, there may even be an opportunity for you to build in some additional soft cost fees or get some cash back at the construction loan origination. You will also want an interest reserve to be capitalized into the loan. Whether the value of the land exceeds the cash requirement will ultimately be dependent on the total project cost relative to what's been spent and the value of the land and as complete product. Lenders are still willing to treat the imputed equity towards your cash if the numbers work, so push for as strong of an as-is appraisal as you can.
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Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
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Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Elena Bresciani:

Quote from @Chris Seveney:
crowdfunding something this small will not be cost prohibitive. You will spend $10-$20k to setup all the documents in order to crowd fund.
Thanks for your response! What do you think is the tipping point / right sized project for crowdfunding to be worthwhile?

Elena

I would not do one under $1M and even then its questionable.
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Elena Bresciani
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Architect · New York City & Pittsburgh · Member since 2014 · 4 posts · 0 votes
2y
Quote from @Stuart Udis:

Elena,
If you own the land with issued permits unencumbered by any debt banks should be able to finance all of the site and vertical improvements herein. Depending on the value of the land and cost of the entitlements, there may even be an opportunity for you to build in some additional soft cost fees or get some cash back at the construction loan origination. You will also want an interest reserve to be capitalized into the loan. Whether the value of the land exceeds the cash requirement will ultimately be dependent on the total project cost relative to what's been spent and the value of the land and as complete product. Lenders are still willing to treat the imputed equity towards your cash if the numbers work, so push for as strong of an as-is appraisal as you can.
Thanks for your response! This is exactly where we are starting with local banks and credit unions, presenting our project numbers as you've described. Maybe there is an end of the year slowdown, we've interacted with two local banks so far and have found the communication back and forth to be not very efficient or productive. We will certainly keep going down the list but we were trying to think of other financing routes to explore while we wait for banks to get back to us, and also thinking that boosting our equity position with some additional private funding would also make the loan scenario more favorable to the bank underwriters. We have detailed project financials, we've filled out the PFS forms, we have a development summary deck, etc and although individually my partner and I have a lot of experience, the business we've formed together is new so we can't demonstrate a track record.
If you think there is anything else we can do to enhance how we are presenting our project to the banks please let me know. Any and all advice is welcome!

Elena
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