All Forum Posts by: Bryant Brislin

Maybe joint venture with a general contractor who has a track record that can be shown to the bank. 

I would think it has to be pier and beam due to the potential flooding.

@Zeb Wallace I'm a land broker in SoCal (Orange County, but have closed 50+ small lot and multifamily projects in LA). I might be able to give some tips if you want to reach out. 

I might be able to help a little bit.  Feel free to reach out.

It's a lot of work. Try to put in some time listening to podcast interviews of guys who do this full-time, those episodes are out there. Also, join FB groups in land investing (they are out there) and see if someone can mentor you, since it's not a quick, easy answer on underwriting land. The shortest version is most of those guys are trying to get land at 1/5 of the retail value, close on it with their own or someone else's money, and then put on the MLS for 2/3 or so of the retail value so that is sells quick (assigning a contract can be difficult, because for many pieces of land, finding a buyer is hard without putting it on the market). A lot of us use LandVision (Lightbox) and/or Propstream, or you can start off using land sales from Redfin. You have to separate the apples and the oranges and the bananas, as far as if you pull fifteen land sales in a certain area, they can all be so different as far as zoning, topography, utilities, access, regular or irregular parcel shape, drainage, soils, environmental, etc. Wish you the best!

I think that can be a good business plan if the numbers work, of course.  It's nice to know you won't have signifcant repairs for a few years.  Also, in some states, like California, the homebuilder is responsible for many repairs for the first ten years. 

I think it's more something that's required by the Department of Real Estate (or similar entity, it may be different state by state, but in California it's the DRE) or by cities/counties based upon their codes for subdivisions with common areas, etc. While HOA's can be cumbersome, expensive and political (i.e. conflict between homeowners), they are certainly needed for various reasons. However, what I've seen on smaller projects of, for example, fifteen lots where there is only a common driveway to maintain, and maybe some landscaping, is them doing a "Maintenance Association" which is less cumbersome and expensive since there are so few matters to handle. There are real estate attorneys who specialize strictly in these matters, i.e. forming HOA's, etc.

Local REIA's, if any in your neighborhood. And many areas have Facebook groups for investors, flippers, wholesalers, et al for that part of the state or large city.

In the beginning, you can probably start with a generic one with all states, but of course if you identify with escrow company you are going to be working with in each state, you can run the contract by them.  Once you open escrow, escrow companies will often have their own "escrow instructions" or "general provisions" that gives them coverage of anything that may have been missed in your contract. 

I can answer a question here and there for you.  I've been a land broker for a long time.