All Forum Posts by: Bear Geiger

Hi @Phil Pat,

In sort, find a coach and start small. My wife and I have built our development business from the ground up and now have 5 employees and a number of contractors.  I would be willing to help you answer some getting started questions.  Send me a PM. 

I run a property development company. We buy large tracts of land and develop them for single family home sites. (We do not build homes) My current realtor has brought me several builders, but now these builders are repeat buyers taking down 10 to 15 lots at a time, so not requiring any marketing time. (She does help as an intermediary between us and builders) I use this realtor to buy my large tracts, sell my individual lots and she is the exclusive agent for our subdivision.

We will likely do over $3,000,000 in sales next year, meaning the agency will pull in about $200,000 from us. Furthermore, there will be about $20,000,000 in home sales, generating well over $1,000,000 in fees. With all of that income being generated from our business, what should I expect from the agency?

I will tell you if I had an employee that I was paying $200,000 a year, I would expect them to wake up every morning focused on my business. I would expect a dedicated employee working 40+ hours a week to get the job done.

What are my options?

• Should I expect a full-time agent? If so they may not assign the one I am currently having success with.
• Can we negotiate a lower rate on our commissions? If so, will the agent be less motivated to help us?
• Can we ask for a percentage of the commission on home sales?

I just feel that we need to get more value for the money we are shelling out.

Thank you to everyone.  Great advice.  I have a relationship with a RE attorney that I have worked with for many years.  I'll start there.  

We are buying our first rental property (single family home) in North Carolina.  I went looking in the Pro section under Landlord forms and found a tenant agreement.  It was 30 pages long for NC. Is this REALLY necessary?  Just trying to protect my investment without overloading my tenants.

ALSO - Is there any language that can be included that will protect us from the eviction moratorium?   

Hi Vijay,

Thank you for taking the time to further explain the deal.  My first thought is the land owner is getting a great deal.  they are taking on almost no risk and no expense and getting 45% of the profits.  This seems out of balance since land costs are usually much less than 45% of the cost of any project.  As a developer, I would see no further reason to add anything to this deal to convince the land owner to move forward.  If the situation were reversed, and the land owner need to encouraged the deal to move forward, they could put up some of the construction costs or take a lower percentage of the profits.  

hi @Vijay Kurhade.  I see that you have not gotten a response to your question.  Perhaps you could give a few additional details and clarify your question.  I am also unclear on what you mean here "(55% for Developer, 45% for Land owner + 1.2 mn USD cash)."  is this a 55% - 45% spit of profits and expenses? profit only? what is 1.2mn USD.  is this $1,200,000 US Dollars?  Who gets this money? what are the terms? 

Hi Derek,

You would get maximum profit by subdividing and selling to individuals to build custom homes, if this is possible on your property (And, yes you can do it with the help you get here.)  -  In a rural area, it's all about the soil.  You should be able to start with publicly available information from the county GIS.  nearly all counties have this online now.  Nearly all properties have a variaty of soil types.  Find out what they are if they are conducive to septic systems.  I can help you with this if you want to send me the Parcel ID and what county, in a private message. 

The next question is access.  how much road froatage do you have? this will determine how much expense you will have to provide access.  Much road frontage usually means little cost. 

I did a project like this in 2018.  I bought 32ac for $295K.  I spent about $100K on clearing and ditches.  I sold 5 lots totalling 23 ac for $645K and built my house on 6ac, and still have 2 smaller lots that I am holding for max profit.  There is a LOT of profit in splitting land if you don't have to build roads etc:-). 

If the local zoning Wilwill not allow multiple houses/units on one property, then you may be able to subdivide and build one on each lot. There are many questions that are unanswered in your post.  The very fist question is always zoning followed by utilities.  Is there water & sewer or will you need well & septic? are you planning to build single family ore something else.  you need to fully work out what is possible with the property you have so that you don't waste money on trial & error.  If you have specific or general questions I will be happy to help. 

Hi Ryan,

I'm not really sure what your question is. Are you trying to get a dialog started about why people chose certain kinds of investments?  

We are currently developing land for single family homes in the Raleigh area.  Would be glad to swap stories with you. We are currently working on a multi phase project that eventually yield about 90 home sites.    

Hi Andrew,

Generally speaking, any type of work that requires the use of heavy equipment (Excavator, bull dozer, skid steer, back hoe) will cost you $100 to $150 per hour which includes operator & fuel.  Mobilization (getting equipment to and from the site) will cost you about another $1000 per piece of equipment. 

Like most things, the more you buy, the cheaper per unit cost.  Some companies will do multi jobs for a flat fee.  rough rule of thumb is that it takes about 2 days per acre to clear land.  Please let me know if I can help with more info.