All Forum Posts by: Kevin Martin

Thanks for the info Robert! It looks like the property is on the DEA list. :(

I know this may be way out there but does anyone have experience buying vacant land with a previous home being used as a meth lab? I say previous because the home was demolished by the bank or whoever because the occupants were cooking meth. I was informed by the adjacent neighbor about all this and I don't think she was saying this to keep me away. I just want to make sure I don't miss anything during my due diligence process. Believe it or not, this property is located in a nice middle class neighborhood and has great potential.

Even though I am fairly new to biggerpockets, I am very grateful for all the information I have learned and the people I have met through biggerpockets. I am also grateful for the opportunity this site has given me to give back and possibly help someone involving my profession. Biggerpockets has opened my eyes to the infinite amount of possibilities that exists with real estate investing. I truly do believe my time spent on Biggerpockets this past year was the best investment I could have made.

My goal in 2014 is to design and build my first home which is also my first real estate purchase. After this is complete, I will do at least two solar spec homes with the help of my all-star team and Biggerpockets!

Happy Holidays and Good Luck to everyone in 2014!

Awesome! Congrats on the New Build!

J,

Be careful with clay and water. If your crawlspace is mostly clay, the clay may make your crawlspace act as a giant bathtub. Make sure that crawlspace is sealed tightly and the stormwater run-off from the roof has somewhere else to flow too away from the house.

Karen,

We are also certified general contractors and real estate brokers. My father is the builder/developer and broker for more than 20 years and I am the engineer and also a licensed GC. He has a majority of the building/real-estate experience and I am just starting the learn the ropes on the real-estate side of things.

We are building spec homes in Jax right now and are using private money/partnership to fund our builds. I am just trying to get some info on this type of lending and see if the numbers work for us in today's market. We are in the pre-construction phase of building my first house (also my first real-estate deal) but after that I would hope to do my first deal with just me and my father.

To my knowledge, Jacksonville is looking excellent for the future in real-estate. Shortage of homes, unemployment is falling, ports (both commercial/cargo shipping and navy) are booming, and the public sector is growing too.

What kind of spec builds are you involved with now? Are you staying with mostly residential or a mix of everything? Also, have you ever used hard money with new construction?

J,

Yes, you are correct about cracking of drywall, openings, windows/doors not closing correctly, but that doesn't necessarily mean its because of foundation issues (even though majority of the time it is). It could also be because of structural issues like over deflection in header beams and columns or more isolated structural problems.

Jassem,

I agree with older structures having most of their secondary settlement dissipated but the only true way to tell is by collecting soil samples and doing laboratory tests and/or establishing a benchmark somewhere on the foundation and measuring the change in elevation over-time. Building a floor on top of a sub floor to fix settlement issues sounds like a temporary fix unless you have a professional engineer sign and seal a letter/report stating the structure has experienced most of its settlement or something along those lines. If I was going to purchase a property with this fix I would want something in writing stating something like this. (Tip: For an investor, it may cost a lot of money and/or time for an engineer to "CYA" on this one. I guess it just depends on the deal.)

Cracking!!!

Majority of the time that is the sign your foundation is having problems. Settlement, shifting, bending, etc. of your foundation are what cause the cracking.

Usually there are only two main issues with foundation problems:

1. The actual foundation wasn't designed/built correctly. This can happen for a number of reasons but mainly either the contractor didn't build it according to the plans or the engineer didn't design it correctly based on the applied loads (Dead, live, snow, wind, soil, hydrostatic, etc).

2. The soils the foundation is bearing on are compressing and/or shrinking/swelling (clay). This can also happen for many reasons but usually on a new SFH a soil exploration was not conducted.

If you want to find out the condition of a foundation just do a test pit besides the foundation (if you have access). Take a shovel and dig right next to the foundation and dig until you reach the bottom of the footing. With a one or even two story house they should only be a few feet down maximum but could be deeper depending on other factors. Do these test pits at a few locations around the house and if you see any cracks or if the foundation is only a few inches thick then you might have an issue or issues down the road. If you are not sure as to what you are seeing then you need to hire a professional. I am not sure if home inspectors actually do this but cracking is the big marker for structural problems with concrete.

Thanks for the info Steve! While were talking about it, how is the new construction market in Orlando recently? I actually just moved to Jacksonville from Orlando and I know the area pretty well. We are about to get one spec home CO and have two more getting built up here in Jax.

Steve,

Have you used a construction loan recently in Florida? If so, since they are hard to find can you recommend a lender? Your saying 85% loan to value they will lend on. Is that 85% on the market value after its built or 85% for the cost to build the home? Ryan mentioned they lend on the total cost to build.