My iPhone made me $46K

[Douglas Larson]

I saw Brandon and Joshua's call for success stories and thought I would share this one:

Last year I sold an investment property in San Diego County and was looking for a place to put some funds. I had been dabbling in bank owned residential building lots for a bout a year in the Salt Lake City, UT area.
While looking at some MLS-listed lots in a very upscale neighborhood in Park City, UT I identified some lots on-line that fit my "good value" criteria. One lot, priced at $95k had open space at the rear and million-dollar-plus homes on either side. While those attributes were compelling, I really didn't want to tie up that much cash for who knew how long. I decided to visit the neighborhood and of course used Google Maps on my iPhone to keep me from getting lost. As I pulled up the satellite view of my favorite lot I was confused. The satellite image showed the little red pin stuck in what looked like a huge, excavated hole in the ground. If this was correct, my favorite lot had been prepped for construction.

I navigated to the lot but there was no sign of any excavation or construction. The bank's sales agent also knew nothing about it - very common for REO agents. After a bit of research at the county planning office, I found a full set of approved architectural plans, (worth at least $25,000) and receipts for over $20,000 in paid impact fees! I made an offer that day and purchased the property for $86k. I had the plans bid out for construction but just simply didn't have the resources to build that kind of luxury home on speculation. I engaged a local realtor who marketed the lot with emphasis on the time and money-savings of approved plans and paid fees. The lot sold for $146,000 in January of this year and I made a little over $46,000 after all fees and commissions. Thank you Google Maps and iphone!

[Douglas Larson]

@Will Barnard aka "BiggestPockets"

Yeah, if I had only known you then . . .

It would have been great to spec a luxury home on this lot. The builder that bought it from me projected a 250K+ net gain. I hate to leave that much money on the table but there is also the opportunity cost. I was able to put that cash immediately into another property. I will think of you the next time I find a sweet deal that needs a fat wallet!