All Forum Posts by: Chris Adams

June is starting off to be a great month. I sold one of the spec units I had attached to a pre sold. This unit wasn't even listed on the MLS and was slated to be our next model home. Its tough to sell without a model, but its tougher to not sell a unit when you have a buyer in front of you.

I have new 3 bedroom model that opened last month. All of the feed back has been great so far and I expect it to sell this month. On that note if I sell the 3 bedroom unit I will only have 1 unit available. And that is a 2 bedroom sunroom unit, which is our most popular unit. This unit is getting drywall in a couple weeks and I expect it to sell very soon after its painted.

Here are a few pictures I thought might be interesting

This is a rear of a 3 bedroom unit with Sable Brown siding. Im amazed how popular this color is. I have already had to tell a client they can't have the color because they are directly across the street from this house. One of my other clients also picked this color, I just asked her to not use the same brick color.

My excavator had to get into a pretty tight space to do the final grade on this unit. This lot had a fairly large hill connecting it to the neighbors. I couldn't lower the building anymore on this side because the opposite side of this building is next to the detention pond. 

The finished grade came out better than we expected. At one point I thought I was going to have to use a retaining wall.

Here is the finished grade viewed from the rear yard.

Here we are installing electric heated floors under ceramic tile.  We did this in the Kitchen/dinette and both bathrooms. Each area has its own thermostat.

I should have some pictures of finished units very soon. 

I would like to hear questions from people following this. Its kind of tough coming up with different things to write about. 

 Yes it is in the country, but its a far cry from BFE. This location is a 9 mins drive to the major mall, 15 mins from downtown Valparaiso, and we are surrounded by houses that comp out in the $300-450k+ range. Its a very desirable area for people that want land.

My exit strategy is simple, we are not selling it =) 

I'll try to keep updating this as we move along.

@Curtis Yoder you are correct, We've had a couple people look at us like we are crazy when they see the project. On the other hand some of my subcontractors who know what I am capable of are telling me I stole this project. 

I'm not concerned a bit.

Working in my spare time this week we managed to get the sunroom tore down, and started tearing the roof off the 2nd floor. If the rain holds off today I will get the entire 2nd floor tore off.  I have designed a new floor plan upstairs and we are not fans of the current mansard roof design. 

I will try to get the new 2nd floor plan uploaded.

Update time

After a lot of work we are finally getting properties completed and closed. I closed 1 unit last week, I have 2 more units planned to close in the next 6 weeks. This will certainly help cash flow.

Currently we have 3 building (6 units) going, of which 1 side on each is sold. We have had some good interest and I expect the spec units to start selling as the near completion. 

The unit closing in a couple weeks is a highly customized unit, I will have post of pictures when it is done. Until then here is a nifty shaped patio we did on that unit yesterday.

We did end up getting this house /fistpump

This property is 6 acres in Valparaiso Indiana. The house is 2400 sf 4 bed 3 bath w 2 car attached garage. The land is beautiful heavily wooded in front and an open field in the back.

The house, well thats a different story. The foundation and 90% of the framing is rock solid.  We are planning to gut the house to the studs and do a complete rehab from there. Im even tearing off the second floor completely and reframing. 

This was not a foreclosure, it was privately owned by an Anesthesiologist who got transferred to California 10 years ago. He had planned to come back and never did. The house was fully furnished when he left and has been vandalized a few times. All the copper has been stolen along with anything of value.

Raccoons ate thru the roof in 2 places so there is some water damage on 2 walls. I should have that opened up soon to see the real extent of the damage.

The picture is the view from the rear of the property looking towards the house.

Its going to be a pretty intense rehab project. Unlike my usual rehabs I am not doing everything myself, I'll be pulling my subcontractors in on this one.

The dollars on this project look like this PP 120k Rehab $115k ARV $375k

This should be a fun one ! 

Its been so long  I can't remember who this tenants was. I like everyones advice about having the parent co sign. If I run across this again that will be the way I go. 

I will put this date in my calendar and try to make it. Im so busy I can't promise but I will definitely try.

Angelo's pizza in the mini mall in front of Walmart is pretty good pie.

Thanks for the mention but I won't be able to make it. Im spending more time in cedar lake and much less time in Leesburg lately. This would be a 3 hour drive 1 way for me. I hope you guys have a good turnout. 

New construction and rehabs are 2 different animals so you can't compare prices. I do most of my own work on the rehabs.

As far as finding good subs, Ive never given a deposit to get them started. If they comp[lain they have to buy materials I will buy the material to get them started. You shouldn't have to chase them to get estimates, if you do they will be just as hard to find when u need work done. I require proof of insurance, workman comp and they must be licensed and bonded PERIOD. 

References are what they are, they won't give you bad ones so take them with a grain of salt, ask for supplier references to see how well they pay their bills.

 Hi George, 

I have been a full time GC/home builder since 1999, I thought I had mentioned this previously. I was basically destroyed by the crash but manage to hold on just enough to start again.