All Forum Posts by: Ed O.

Hey Russie - I pay for a pro membership. 

You're a class act, putting words in my mouth for me. Keep it up, I wish you were in my market so I could work with you.. I bet you're a great moderator. 

I've been a pro member for 3? maybe 4 years.... 

Recently, I've received an onslaught of BP solicitations. 

The first one, was a message from Mindy Jensen. Not knowing this person, I checked it. It was a sad, shameless pitch, trying to sell me 8 real estate  forms for people my state. I found this awful attempt at guerrilla marketing disgusting, but simply deleted the email. 

A day or two later, I get another message, asking if I have "left for good." Again from Mindy - you know, the same person trying to sell me a newb kit of forms for $200. I ignored it. 

Then a day or two later, another annoying message, titled, "the break up." 

Really BP - why? Are you that hard up for revenue that you need to send private messages, to get people to look at an advertisement for forms you're selling that I haven't needed in decades? Heck, I think I have even given forms like this to the community - and now, you're trying to sell them to me? I wonder if you're trying to sell me the forms I gave to the community? 

Did the BP ownership change? This disappointing approach seems like something which wouldn't happen under Josh's watch.

I have nothing against anyone wishing to generate income. However, to do it like this is pretty sad and certainly not in the high standard in which I've known BP. 

The guide mentioned above is pretty good. 

For me, here's the process out of the gate, which it sounds like is as foreign to you as it was to me. I have done years and years of rehabs before building.

Select lot, review covenants to make sure the house you want to put there is ok with them. Consider that the lot will dictate many feautes about your home, basement, walkout basement, crawl, driveway slope, etc. Consider setbacks (from the property line), etc as they will control how wide and deep the house may be and how it will sit on the lot. Garage and driveway always goes on the high side of the lot. 

Meet with and get a bank lined up, they'll eventually need a budget and order a preconstruction appraisal. 

Once you have the lot under contract, it would be good to meet with a home designer. In some areas, it must be an architect. In some areas, it can be a draftsman, which do mostly the same thing for a fraction of the price. You'll want to meet with that person and be able to show them a copy of the plat for the lot and the neighborhood covenants. When meeting with them, they'll want to know a sq footage number, bed/baths, garages, details and features you want in the plan, etc. They'll send you a rough draft of a plan, and you can tell them what you want changed on it until you arrive at a finished product. 

You'll want to line up an excavator, surveyor, foundation company and framer before you close, so you can proceed quickly if you wish to after you close the loan. Many trades work well with the trades before and after them, so if you find one sub that sounds legit that you want to work with, they can likely refer you to like minded subs that will do like quality work - who **most importantly will work well and play nice with other subs**. 

You'll also want to line upcharge/billing accounts with a few concrete companies and lumber companies and most vendors you expect to buy from. Easiest before you need the materials, etc. 

Then you close. 

1.  Call excavator & foundation company, tell him you're almost ready and to hold some time for you. Get a commitment. 

2. Call the surveyor - get a site plan and tell him you're ready. He will go out and stake the lot for the digger. 

3. Pull a new construction permit - this process is regionally specific and varies. 

4. digger should call in a locate and do their job. 

5. surveyor may return to stake the foundation for the foundation crew

6. foundation goes in. 

7. order curb cut

8. waterproof the foundation if desired.

9. run underground utilities

10. backfill the foundation consistent with the manner for your area, backfill utility trenches, pop the curb (while the heavy equipment is there). 

from here, you can start framing. 

The best tip I can offer, is to always keep your subs informed. Update them weekly - so they know the status of your job and commit to showing up close to when you're ready. Anyone more than a week behind - almost always goes many weeks behind, so look to bring in someone else when subs stall - which happens a lot. 

I may have missed a detail here or there, but this is a pretty solid version of how it's done in my area. 

Good luck

If it's your first go on a new build, try and find a mentor or another active builder who can help you out, maybe in return for services and some good meals. So many things in new construction are regionally specific and there's a ton of room for subs to take advantage of newer builders when grey area scenarios arise. I did this when I got started and the value of my mentors counsel has been in the tens of thousands of dollars. Additionally, make sure you get a good lot to build on - hilly lots can make it more costly to build a good house and people love a flat driveway and little to no steps... good luck!

Sure, you're competing against other lots, but supply and demand is a determined at the local level. In my market, about the only lots left are super high-end or junk lots, which are costly to build less desirable homes on. 

David, if you were to develop the lots, it could be beneficial to reach out to some builders in advance, offer them the opportunity to participate in crafting the covenants in return for them buying a set number of lots. 

Best of luck with your acquisition!

@Brandon Turner

Hey cat-man! - can you show me some love and point me in the right direction? I didn't expect crickets on this post. 

thanks,

Ed

Good morning!

I have a solid understanding of marketing to sellers after having listened to a lot of the podcasts, etc. Where I'm hung up is how to build it from scratch. 

Here's my scenario:

I've identified a limited, specific geographic area I'd like to purchase within. I can access records and data from the areas GIS and county database. I plan on farming this task out to a VA.

What I need, is a way to collect, sort and process the raw data, in the most efficient way. What software is preferable for this? I figure I'll mail marketing pieces 5-20 times to each parcel - I'm looking for a way to automate this part as much as possible - to a point where I can enter the property data and details - and then track and send marketing as planned. 

What's the best path on this? Thanks!

If you're unsure of labor costs, Lowes and HD will give you a high side price. 

As much as they are high, their workers probably have workers comp and general liability. The other thing you get, is that if you ever have an issue with the work performed, the stores generally will burn the sub if they have to, in order to stand behind the work. A lone handyman working out of the back of his truck usually has no insurance and also doesn't have a customer service department. 

I generally do not use them, but they certainly have a spot as a starting point to check on pricing. 

Hello!

I've used a few IP Cameras over the past few years to provide security and also a presence on job sites while not there. 

I've used nest cams and also tried Arlo. Canary is next in line for a tryout. 

They all seem to have some good qualities and unique shortcomings. 

I've seen some incredible cameras with Pan Tilt and Zoom features. 

The problem is that from what I've seen, they're all cctv and do not have an option to control them from a phone or pc. Is anyone aware of any cameras that can be used remotely, preferably with only a power cord feeding the camera, which can stand on its own. 

I'm looking for something that installs and needs as little as a nest cam, that has the functionality of a ptz camera which can be operated remotely. 

thanks!

Hello Will,

I have not installed metal roofing. From what I understand, and I may be incorrect - the cost of a metal roof is about the cost of 2 or 3 asphalt shingle roofs. I can get my roofs for a wholesale price, so I can spread the cash outlay on the roof hypothetically over 50 years (1 roof now, 1 new roof in 25 years, another in 25 years), vs cutting one big check now for a metal roof today.