All Forum Posts by: Kevin Martin

Another vote for Home Depot! Become a pro member and buy in bulk through the bid room if you can. If you know what you are doing you can order your cabinets online and have them shipped to the site. Make sure you get your fillers and toe-kicks. Buy your hardware online somewhere else. It’s a lot cheaper then the stores.  

@Account Closed  presenting anything to a bank/investor would be one of the last steps in my opinion. You need to figure out what you can build before you do anything. Once you figure out what you can build you figure out your ballpark cost per unit or totals for vertical construction, horizontal costs, holding costs, interest, commissions, closing costs, ect ect and an estimated sales price per unit or total. Whatever is left over is what you can pay for the land. Once you have the land under contract you can sharpen the pencil and start putting more detailed cost and sales analysis for the banks/investors you would like to partner with or fund the deal. 

@Colin Gearity yes try the building department or the archives department and request them there. Some city/counties are getting all their older plans/records scanned in and on a hard drive. Some cities I can send an email request and get and email back within an hour with the plans or just look them up online with the address/tax or parcel ID. Good Luck!

@Gino PicciolaGo to the archives department in the city/county and request the plans for the project. The architects name and license number should be on the plans. A quick google search with his company name should let you know if he is still in business. If not, then look up his license number and send him a letter in the mail(probably won’t have an email or phone) and ask him if he knows the best way to get the same plans for the past project. He or someone else will need to bring the old plans up to current codes regardless so there will be some cost there. 

The worst case is you can’t find anything and have to hire an architect/engineer from scratch. At least they will have something to go by in the field. :)

not an attorney or cpa here but I think it comes down too keeping your personal affairs separate from your business affairs. If what you are saying is true it sounds like single member LLC are more vulnerable due to the owner not doing a good job in keeping everything separate.

Have an operating agreement, by laws, minutes, ect.

Keep business and personal money completely separate.

Pay yourself a salary (if possible), bonuses, 401k, insurance, and anything typical companies do for their employees.

All your contracts should refer to the “company” and not his, hers, or anything that could be related to the single owner.

If you keep this separation clear and consistent it should be hard to pierce the veil and if you get audited (I believe some of it is random so you have no control to a point) then you should have all your ducks in a row. 

5000psi concrete mix! :)

@Chris Seveney Good Plans!!! Great Pointer....if it’s on the plans there are no excuses! 

This is from another BP member and I thought it looked like a good strategy to get your cash back quickly. It’s becomes a regular refi and not a cash out refi. I haven’t tried it yet but it looks interesting. Here is the meat of it...

• You create an LLC
• You buy a home
• Your LLC gives you a loan for the home
• You file the deed for that loan at the county courthouse
• You use the money from the LLC to buy and fix up the property
• Once the property is completed, your conventional lender comes to refinance the loan
• Your conventional lender runs title and sees there is a loan.
• Your conventional lender refinances you into a new loan, and cuts a check to your LLCâ¦a check in the amount of 75% of the value.

@Kirsten Braddock I don’t want to sound too pessimistic but almost every house I have seen in Springfield  has literally been falling apart. The homes are >100 years old and are just a bear to renovate. Lots of foundation problems, wood rot, termite damage, poor workmanship, water damage ect ect. I understand there is a lot of history and character in each house which attracts buyers and its doing the neighborhood good but just expect to fight your way through the whole rehab. Or you can hire a contractor to deal with it all but expect a fair amount of unforeseen costs and bumps in the road. Everything else about Springfield is great and you get the opportunity to add a lot of value but just in my opinion the cons heavily outweigh the pros. 

@Jim Macedon The contract should have all this laid out and will be the "go to" if something out of the ordinary happens. The more information the builder has then the better his bid should be in theory but it doesn't always happen that way. Make sure he has all his development cost in his bid and all the finishes you want so he can give you an accurate bid. If not, then if he gives you a maximum bid with all his contingencies laid out then you should be ok.