All Forum Posts by: Andrew Taylor

50-70 miles out in which direction? Galveston and Huntsville are two different opportunities...

I'm considering building a group of small single family residences on some property nearby. My intent would be to rent these out, not to subdivide and sell. I'm not sure what the density would be, but I'm thinking something like 4 or 6 units per acre. My question is, how do I handle water and wastewater if I am not served by city utilities? My experience is limited to building one house at a time on a single parcel, so I am familiar with water well and septic systems, but I'm not sure if the solution for multiple properties is the same or not. Is it just larger versions of the same systems, or are there other solutions more appropriate for a cluster of units? Thanks in advance for your input.

No idea how they come up with their numbers, Mitchell. I just selected something like Class C suburban multifamily in the Houston market and it showed 8.98 as the rate. Based on the suggestion from Michael above I added 25-50 basis points and used that for my calculations.

I ended up subscribing to nationalcaprates.com. They had the Houston area at something like 8.98. Based on @Michael Le's comment above, I used 9.25-9.50 to value the property I was looking at.

What's what's the square footage of the siding area? If the house is, say, 40 by 40, with 8-foot exterior walls, then you have almost 13 squares (a square is 100 square feet). That would cost you about $17,000 going through the Big Box store. That includes paint, but not insulation.

You can save some money by going with a Chuck in a truck, but I don't think you can cut it in half.

Square square footage of the house is irrelevant. You need to find the square footage of the siding area. I am an authorized installer for a local Big Box store chain, and I can tell you that for an average house, you're looking about $1,300 per square. You can save a considerable amount by not doing the soffit and fascia.

Trying to sell a property I own in a nice, acreage neighborhood. We own one of the larger parcels (4.5 acres) with large, half-acre pond. We bought the property with the intention of building a custom home. We installed a water well, fencing, a compacted house pad, and built an $80k barn/workshop.

Before we could start the house, I got laid off (oil & gas) and we converted about 1,000sf of the barn to living space. Spent a year living there before I found a job, and by then we were ready to get back into a real-sized house. We bought a nearby property and moved out.

We're now trying to sell the property, but with close to $100k in non-house improvements (well, electric service, house pad, barn/workshop, fencing, etc.) it's a tough deal for a traditional lender to process. We've got it listed at $259k.

Recently received an offer and came to terms with the buyer for a sales price of $255k plus a few improvements (septic system, some additional carpet, etc.). They wanted to use FHA financing, but predictably, that didn't work out. They've asked for several extensions while they try to work out financing with different lenders. We're fine with this - they're a nice young couple who obviously love the property, which we identify with. We're not in a huge rush, since, other than a $50k home equity loan, we have no debt on the property.

They've asked about owner-financing. Original offer was 10% down, 6% interest, with a 1-year balloon. Their plan is to convert the entire building to living space, which would put its value at about $400k based on recent comps. Problem is, 10% down doesn't pay off our home equity loan.

I tracked the buyer down and called him, and we sort of agree in principle on a deal, but the details are still fuzzy. He's able to come up with $50k down, allowing me to pay off my lien, but I'll still be short the title company costs and commission fees. I suppose I could borrow those funds from a family member and then pay them back with the owner-financing proceeds over the next year, but then I lose the benefit of owner-financing (i.e. the interest).

Not sure the buyer can wait until my listing agreement expires, as their lease expires in May, a month before my agreement. I was thinking maybe a wraparound mortgage was the answer, but I read somewhere that they can't be refinanced - you're basically locked-in for the length of the loan? That seems unlikely, but what do I know.

Buyer's intent is to purchase property, convert entire building to living space (which, according to deed restrictions, just means insulated and conditioned space), and then refinance in 6 (conventional) or 12 (FHA) months to pay off owner-financed note. I'd like to pay off my equity note right away, but it's not an urgent need, as long as buyer's payments cover my monthly nut ($250 equity loan, $300 taxes, $75 HOA).

This seems like a puzzle to me - all the pieces are on the table, I just can't see how to fit them all together to complete the task. Would be grateful for your suggestions.

I am I am currently building an oversized 2-car garage for a client in North Houston. It's about 900 square feet downstairs, and 900 square feet upstairs. The space is insulated and sheetrocked, but otherwise empty both upstairs and down. No cabinets, no flooring, no appliances, no plumbing.

As I recall, our bid to the customer was $95,000 or so. The last time I did this in the Heights area, we had to go through the architectural association and the historic committee. Make sure you factor in all of the homeowner approval nonsense to your time and budget.

I work for a small company that does a little of everything. We may be able to help out. Can you send some details?

Less than 10 on the one we're looking at now. Probably up to to 50 or so in the future.