Building new homes and investing in rentals

Building new homes and investing in rentals

Bealeton, VA · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 14 votes

Hello Bigger Pockets community,

I just discovered you all.  Very late to the party I know.  It's almost like how I just discovered the True Detective series and its greatness.  

I do have an excuse as I have been busy designing and building two energy-efficient homes on my 13 acre farm for the last 3 years.  One of our homes will become a rental/Airbnb property and the second home that we are currently building will be our main residence and have an ADA-inspired in-law suite for my parents.  I had dreams of being an organic farmer when we first bought the property, but I am enjoying the home designing and building process so thoroughly that I want to build custom homes for other people.  I still hope to continue beekeeping and growing cut flowers to keep the land in farm use and to generate a small amount of cash flow.    

As for custom home building, I understand that gaining new clients will be difficult since I haven't built a home for someone else yet and  I don't even have my Class A Builder's License (I'm currently studying for the test).  Another option is to build spec homes, but that will require a loan or bringing in investors, which may be difficult until I get some more experience.  Therefore, I am thinking that I can start investing in rental properties or doing a house flip to get some more income and experience.  Apart from new construction, I do have experience remodeling homes.  The first house I bought, which was a short sale, my wife and I did some extensive remodeling and sold it 6 years later for a nice profit, which then allowed us to buy our farm and build our two houses.  Also for those 6 years, we rented out our basement so I do have experience working with renters.

So now with all my background information out of the way, my question is - In forming a business and writing my business plan, do I combine my two goals into one company? Is it better to combine building custom homes, remodeling houses, flipping houses, and owning and managing rental properties into one business? Or is it best to have two different companies since it seems (maybe incorrectly) that building custom homes and remodeling houses is in a different area of real estate than flipping houses and managing rental properties?  

I am hoping to hear from anyone that has experience doing all of the aforementioned. Thanks in advance for sharing and I look forward to being a positive member of this community.

Attached are two pictures.  One is the first home I built and the second one is the design for the second home which we are currently building.  I hope to get under roof before we get any snow.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Nguyen

1Reply
21 views

4 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Real Estate Broker · Windsor, CT · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 268 votes
    10y

    Welcome to Bp! I would suggest having separate companies, for asset liability reasons.

  • Karen MargraveBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    10y

    @Jimmy Nguyen Welcome! You're a man after my own heart. I LOVE modern farmstyle houses.We actually own 20 acres and have one ourselves. Though we moved out of the area and now rent it out to YWAM (youth with a mission). 

    We are licensed general contractors, and have been building spec houses, office buildings, retail, etc. for the past 30 years. 

    It looks like you can show enough experience to satisfy lenders, depending on what the LTV would be on the project. You probably will need your contractors license, though each state is unique in their requirements.

    Anyway, you've found a great resource here. When you're building the house, put it on Investor Deal Diaries so we can all watch the progress! 

  • Bealeton, VA · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 14 votes
    10y

    Thanks everyone for the quick replies and words of wisdom and support.

    @MelissaGittens  - I didn't really think about the liability protection in having two separate companies.  Thanks for that.  I once attended a session at a farming workshop where an attorney recommended farmers form a real estate llc and farm business llc.  The real estate llc would be run by their significant other or someone in their family. The real estate llc would own the farm property and rent it out to the farmer and his separate farm business.  That way if someone had a visitor on the farm (i.e. U-pick farms) and the visitor got injured and sued, they could only sue the farm business and not be able to get the most prized possession of a farmer - the land!

    Gosh - it looks like I'll have to have 3 businesses now.  I'll have to keep on top of the accounts and make sure everything goes in the correct place.

    @Karen Margrave - Thank you for your message.  I hope I can have success like you and your company.  Can I still post to the Investor Deal Diaries on the current house I am building even though the house is for myself and not going to be sold - at least not in the near future?  

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.