All Forum Posts by: James Wise

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Loudoun County Virginia

80 acre parcel

Entitlement for 30 1 to 1.5 acre estate lots and 40 acre remainder parcel with large million dollar home.

Purchase price  3.5 mil

EM deposits non refundable  50k up front 50k during

Entitlement cost ( survey, geo , water , artifacts, Soils Engineer , city fees)  350k

Capital partner  ME  provide all the cash up front.  450k to my client who found and prosecuted the plat

Multiple offers from all the biggest builders in that market  IE Toll  Lennar DR and a few regionals.

Closed today with 1.1 million cash profit  PLUS the 40 acres and home value about at least 2 mil free and clear.

My fee is double my money so we made 450k today.

My client made about 650k in cash and the property  free and clear.. 

This is the value of a TRUE capital partner one that knows development willing to take on some risk for high reward.

this is the smallest of 3 I had going with this company.. The other two are much larger with much larger investments from me and profits on one of them in the 8 figures for my clients..

My client is mid 30s just had a baby.. However is a civil engineer and worked for a big developer in NYC so very experienced.

The buyer was one of the companies named above it will hit the market for pre sales in a few months.

This is the 5th Entitlement project I have funded over the last 5 or 6 years in addition I did a 60 lot one in Orlando for a developer there and a 110 lot one in the Atlanta area for a build to rent developer who then sold to Lennar for build to rent .. On those I actually bought the land and they paid for the entitlements and then they paid me off my return on those was not 100% per annum like these but it was north of 30% per annum.. These deals have so much meat on the bone that paying a capital partner is a no brainier.. 

 Dope, love me some land deals.........When I built the family house i'm living in now, I went and bought 30 acres for about $200k...Some wooded but mostly Farmland. Spent another $215kish building a Cul-De-Sac, getting subdivision planning / approval, engineering....etc and made 3 lots out of it....A 22, a 6 & a 2. Kept the 22 and built my house, sold the other 2 lots for a total of $405k or so. It's in the school district the wife wanted and we've got all the space and privacy one could need. I've never seen 22 acres on a Cul-De-Sac before so we couldn't be happier with how it all penned out.

Jim,, this reminded me of my 20 year high school reunion ( Cupertino High class of 74) I was talking to one buddy who was now a Cardiologist and had moved to Ohio.. mind you house in Cupertino at the time that used to be 30k 40k just 15 year prior were going to 600 to 1 mil for 1K sq ft to 2k sq ft.. This Buddy of mine showed me his house much like your 6k sq feet on 5 acres cant remember where .. But he said he paid 490k for it in 94.. that was my first experience with the huge price discrepancies between SF Bay Area and mid west. That house you built in the bay area would have to be in Los Altos Hills or Woodside area to get that big of lot and would be well north of 12 to 20 million.. One of my clients just built a new home in Los Altos hills really cool bout 4500 sq ft modern and he is in it over  6 mil just build cost.. young guy late 30s has some sort of on line something.  Been one of my investors for going on  10 years now.

Quote from @Eric James:

Quote from @Henry Clark:

Anyone reading this post.  
Dont start with a large project.  Buy a house with 5 or 10 acres then split and sale.   Move up to 10 to 40 acres and split up into large lots.  Dint do small lots.   Then stay about the same size and then do small lots.  Start with a country subdivision versus a city one.  Go for rock roads and no water drain or septic systems.   When you move up to concrete roads and sidewalks.  Water drain and septic pipelines the cost almost doubles.  
Learn location value first before doing a large project.  Be on the side of town towards the next largest town.  Near a school or towards a rec area.  People line trees, water, walkouts, boulders.  Try not to pick flat farm ground.  Look for cheaper waste ground with trees, ditches which can be converted to ponds, sloped ground for walkout basements, views.  

Above all else make sure you have sweet ground water if in the countryside.  Good cell phone reception and internet. 

 When you say country subdivision do you mean outside city limits, or just not a large city? When you say no septic systems, does that mean city sewer available?

 Out in the county.  If your in the city you will need to do concrete roads, cul de sacs, sidewalks, storm sewers, etc.  Utilities.   This can double the cost of the lot plus you will be competing with developers.  

Correct city sewer.  Again more cost for you.   If in the county the homeowner will pick up the cost for their septic system and leach field.  

Your biggest and easiest money maker will be lots you can do split driveway entrances.  Lots that are long rectangles along the road for more road access and less interior roads to develop.   Next best is a square shape.   Worst is a long rectangle with the narrow end to the road.  If you can get lots on both sides of the long rectangle then not to bad since you share the cost of the road.  

Your best purchase will be an acreage with roads on multiple sides.  You can sell the easy lots along the road with less interior development.

Just because your subdividing the land doesn’t mean your forming a subdivision.  You could sell lots along the road as single lots.  But do a subdivision on the interior land.  Less entitlements and you get your cash flow going quicker.  But never allow someone to buy a lot and put a Pink trailer on it.  Kills the deal.  

I am a new pro member. My plan is to buy something in the next 90 days to a year that I can cash flow at least $100 a month after all expenses are accounted for; i.e. property management, taxes, insurance, cap expendetures etc. What are some of the best markets to get started in?  colombus/springfield OH seems at least somewhat promising to me. 

Quote from @Eric Bilderback:

How long did the process take from walking the dirt to closing with one of the big builders?

 We don’t sell to big builders but the process is the same up to that point.  

Walking the land as you note could mean you already bought the ground or you are looking for ground. That would be dependent on you closing the deal. 

Our project we are bringing to market will have taken us 2 years from buying to offering.  As @Jay Hinrichs mentioned it can be a bear dealing with people.  

Wasted 8 months with the County Auditor on the first application just arguing with her on the correct form.  Finally had the board of supervisors sit down with her and correct her.   So it depends on how many Subdivisions occur in your jurisdiction.

lost another 9 months combined with the  Corp of Engineers and the local Soil and Conservation board.  

Starting with an engineer firm will speed up the process.   Will cost more.  

I would say 6 to 9 months from owning the land to selling.   Also depends on how much infrastructure you have to put in.  

@Michael Calvey You are missing the point. Everyone has the right to write about their experience but I would be more inclined to pay attention to the review of someone who has been playing video games for years than the person in your example who purchased their first Xbox with no past experience. Same goes for the investors who are singing RTR's praises. You talk about consistent performance but you are going off of the word of inexperienced investors who don't have a clue about what they are doing. 

Hi,

I spoke with a multifamily seller recently, and he told me that he was involved in a class action lawsuit with Pace Morby with the nature of it seemingly around the Sub-to deals he structures. I wonder if anyone else has heard about this lawsuit. are Sub To creative finance deals highly illegal or litigable in the multifamily space? 

I need advice on how to handle the transition my long-term rentals to a new property manager when my current one won't return calls, emails, or texts. 

After a year+ of unreliable management, I finally decided to switch to a new company. The current PM had delayed two months of rent payments with all kinds of excuses (that is when he did reply, which was rare). Per our signed agreement, I gave him 30 days notice of termination of his services via email and asked him to remit all outstanding payments and documentation (he hasn't delivered an owner's statement since June of '24) and assist with the transition to the new PM company.

He responded to one text a couple weeks ago when I asked for an update on the transition saying he hadn't received notice from me or heard from the new PM. The new PM has repeatedly tried to contact him with no response. He's also contacted the tenants with notice of management change, but they say they won't work with him without notice from the current PM to confirm it's legitimate. 

I only have the lease and contact info for one of my two properties. The PM never sent me the other, despite numerous promises to do so, so I don't know the name or contact info of that tenant. 

I'm an out-of-state owner. The properties are in Columbus, Ohio. 

The 30 days of notice ends on Feb 27. I need to get this existing company out of my life. 

Open to all suggestions.

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Loudoun County Virginia

80 acre parcel

Entitlement for 30 1 to 1.5 acre estate lots and 40 acre remainder parcel with large million dollar home.

Purchase price  3.5 mil

EM deposits non refundable  50k up front 50k during

Entitlement cost ( survey, geo , water , artifacts, Soils Engineer , city fees)  350k

Capital partner  ME  provide all the cash up front.  450k to my client who found and prosecuted the plat

Multiple offers from all the biggest builders in that market  IE Toll  Lennar DR and a few regionals.

Closed today with 1.1 million cash profit  PLUS the 40 acres and home value about at least 2 mil free and clear.

My fee is double my money so we made 450k today.

My client made about 650k in cash and the property  free and clear.. 

This is the value of a TRUE capital partner one that knows development willing to take on some risk for high reward.

this is the smallest of 3 I had going with this company.. The other two are much larger with much larger investments from me and profits on one of them in the 8 figures for my clients..

My client is mid 30s just had a baby.. However is a civil engineer and worked for a big developer in NYC so very experienced.

The buyer was one of the companies named above it will hit the market for pre sales in a few months.

This is the 5th Entitlement project I have funded over the last 5 or 6 years in addition I did a 60 lot one in Orlando for a developer there and a 110 lot one in the Atlanta area for a build to rent developer who then sold to Lennar for build to rent .. On those I actually bought the land and they paid for the entitlements and then they paid me off my return on those was not 100% per annum like these but it was north of 30% per annum.. These deals have so much meat on the bone that paying a capital partner is a no brainier.. 

 Dope, love me some land deals.........When I built the family house i'm living in now, I went and bought 30 acres for about $200k...Some wooded but mostly Farmland. Spent another $215kish building a Cul-De-Sac, getting subdivision planning / approval, engineering....etc and made 3 lots out of it....A 22, a 6 & a 2. Kept the 22 and built my house, sold the other 2 lots for a total of $405k or so. It's in the school district the wife wanted and we've got all the space and privacy one could need. I've never seen 22 acres on a Cul-De-Sac before so we couldn't be happier with how it all penned out.

nice work Jim.. I hope you have a house cleaner for your wife !!! thats a monster pad. 

lol, it's a bit more to clean than the 988 sq ft house we were living in when we bought our 1st duplex.

my 3rd house in Palo Alto CA was 900 sq ft 3 and 1  this is were location location determines value I paid 185k for it in 1985.. and sold it in 92 for 500k  doing nothing to it.. And it last sold for 3.2 million  now they did add a little in the back and added a bathroom..  684 Encina Grande Palo Alto CA.. lots are worth 2 to 3 mil.. improvements not so much. :)

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Loudoun County Virginia

80 acre parcel

Entitlement for 30 1 to 1.5 acre estate lots and 40 acre remainder parcel with large million dollar home.

Purchase price  3.5 mil

EM deposits non refundable  50k up front 50k during

Entitlement cost ( survey, geo , water , artifacts, Soils Engineer , city fees)  350k

Capital partner  ME  provide all the cash up front.  450k to my client who found and prosecuted the plat

Multiple offers from all the biggest builders in that market  IE Toll  Lennar DR and a few regionals.

Closed today with 1.1 million cash profit  PLUS the 40 acres and home value about at least 2 mil free and clear.

My fee is double my money so we made 450k today.

My client made about 650k in cash and the property  free and clear.. 

This is the value of a TRUE capital partner one that knows development willing to take on some risk for high reward.

this is the smallest of 3 I had going with this company.. The other two are much larger with much larger investments from me and profits on one of them in the 8 figures for my clients..

My client is mid 30s just had a baby.. However is a civil engineer and worked for a big developer in NYC so very experienced.

The buyer was one of the companies named above it will hit the market for pre sales in a few months.

This is the 5th Entitlement project I have funded over the last 5 or 6 years in addition I did a 60 lot one in Orlando for a developer there and a 110 lot one in the Atlanta area for a build to rent developer who then sold to Lennar for build to rent .. On those I actually bought the land and they paid for the entitlements and then they paid me off my return on those was not 100% per annum like these but it was north of 30% per annum.. These deals have so much meat on the bone that paying a capital partner is a no brainier.. 

 Dope, love me some land deals.........When I built the family house i'm living in now, I went and bought 30 acres for about $200k...Some wooded but mostly Farmland. Spent another $215kish building a Cul-De-Sac, getting subdivision planning / approval, engineering....etc and made 3 lots out of it....A 22, a 6 & a 2. Kept the 22 and built my house, sold the other 2 lots for a total of $405k or so. It's in the school district the wife wanted and we've got all the space and privacy one could need. I've never seen 22 acres on a Cul-De-Sac before so we couldn't be happier with how it all penned out.

nice work Jim.. I hope you have a house cleaner for your wife !!! thats a monster pad.