All Forum Posts by: Rob Cee

If you were going to be an investor in a spec home building project (either one or a few SFR's or townhomes) what types of due diligence would you do? What are the top questions you would be asking the sponsors to mitigate your risk? I have never done development myself and therefore do not know a lot about it, but I have some opportunities to invest in some projects. I have been doing as much reading as I can to learn more, but wanted to get responses from BP. Thanks

 Any suggestions on development books?

Does any one have any recommendations for good books or courses on land investment?  I did a search on this site, Google search, Amazon search and it's difficult to find books on this topic.  Especially recent books.  

My search came up with some John T. Reed recommendations:

-Robert Abalos: "Investing in Land: How to Build Wealth Buying, Selling, Subdividing and Developing Land"  $927 (that's not a misprint - $927!) on Amazon - it's a 3 ring binder  2003

- Finding and Buying your Place in the Country by Les Scher 2000

-How to Make a Fortune Investing in Real Estate: The Land Game by Albert Winnikoff 1970 

Other books:

-Investing in Land: It's Not What You Think: John Pehrson 2008

The Abalos book looks like what I'm looking for.  But $927 is pretty steep for something from 2003.  Any suggestions?

Thanks @Karen Margrave I will take you up on your offer.  I did some research on Amazon and there are some books on investing in land and land development that might help with that piece.  And there are some books on home building that will help with that piece.  This is definitely an undeserved niche!  There are so many books & courses out there on buying rentals, apartments, flipping, wholesaling, but very little on spec home building.  And I have never seen a boot camp on spec building.  This is surprising.

Is there a good book out there that covers the fundamentals of spec home building?  That covers everything from the land acquisition on up?  I know, I know, I know everyone is going to say "you can't learn it from a book", etc...   But I am just looking for something that is going to provide a basic background in the fundamentals, more for me to be a investor in projects then to do my own project.  I want to get better with the terminology, steps, strategies around it and what can go wrong.  I have a long background in rentals and lending, just have never done or been a partner in a development project.  Thanks.

I'm not a multi-family expert (I have just done SFR and townhome rentals), but $45,600 in rents on a $275,000 purchase in the Puget Sound region of Western WA seems like decent numbers. How much fix up cost will you have to put into it to have it all set up running and rented?

This is a terrific thread thank you for starting.  I think the two best types of threads on BP are: 1. Where people post specific deals and get feedback, and 2. When people talk about mistakes they have made on properties and the past and lost money, what went wrong, and what they would do if they could do it all over again.

I posted too fast. I meant what % of current value or what % of ARV are investors currently paying at Sacramento trustee sale auctions?

What LTV or ARV are investors generally paying at the trustee sale auctions in Sac?

Looking especially for flippers who know South Sacramento.  And also if there is anyone out there that buys at the trustee sale auctions in Sac.  I'm not in the area and I'm trying to find out what flippers would pay for a particular property I have an interest in and/or what they would likely bid at auction for it.