All Forum Posts by: Nicole S.

Thanks @Travis Beehler, that is really helpful!

@Mana Silva

I'm in the process of building two brand new homes in the Seattle area. My family already owns the land, each lot has a single family rental home on it. The homes were both built in the early 20's and they're in need of major component replacement. We thought about flipping/rehabbing them but have found that they'll be worth more if we re-build. If I take two homes with the exact same specs, finishes, etc. and compare them side by side, the newer home seems to fetch a higher asking price. 

With that said, I'm brand new to this type of investing. I've read books, watched videos and read through the forums but I've quickly learned that the only way to know if this is viable is to do it, so I'm doing it! 

My biggest hiccups have been tenants (re-locating them, landlord tenant law), long wait times for permits (six month process so I've been told) and financing which has been the biggest headache. We're looking into hard money or cash deal now that commercial lending has been such a pain. For all of these reasons, I would think some might be more apt to do a flip. The return though on the new build should be more than a flip, so we hope! We compared rehab versus rebuild on both properties and determined that while the cost to build was much greater the return was also much greater. 

Thank you @Say Teoh , that's good to know!

Thanks @Colin L. & @Emilio Ramirez . 

I spoke with my architect and he does want me to get a survey - I must've misunderstood him. He asked me to send the following scope: 

LOCATE PROPERTY CORNERS

LOCATE EASMENTS AND/OR ENCROACHNENTS

LOCATE UTILITIES ON SITE AND INDICATE WHERE LOCATED (STREET/ ALLEY)

THE EXISTING HOUSE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE LOCATED AS IT WILL BE DEMOLISHED.

Is there anything else I need from the surveyor for this new construction project? 

Thanks! 

*Also, I will be looking for more builders - I have found this to be a real pain though. It seems the legitimate ones want to charge me $3K to give me a bid. I get that there's time involved in estimating but that's not going to work for us. 

I'm working on this very project right now in $eattle. I have two SF rentals with no debt. The two homes in question have reached the end of their useful life so we are in the process of planning to tear them down and rebuild. I thought about purchasing plans or leaving the plans to the contractor but being that his is my first time, I didn't want all the things I don't know to haunt me. I also thought about playing the GC but again, it's my first rodeo, I need to see how it's done first. I would love to apprentice with another investor that does this! 

The architect is just finishing the plans on one home, we're about $6K in and that's CHEAP for architectural drawings. My issue has been finding a builder to give us a sense of cost so that we can continue to modify the plans (based on cost) BEFORE we submit them to the city for permitting. Right now, the price/SF I'm getting is about $175/SF, which is retail pricing. I know through investors that builders are building at $100/SF on their projects. But that makes sense, I'm not a builder. One builder wants me to survey the land and the architect told me it wasn't necessary. The other builder I'm talking to wants me to get an engineer involved to look at the soil and foundation plans. Is this typical? I'm curious why the architect didn't tell me to do this. At the end of the day, it looks like our 2,900 SF home is going to cost about $500K to build and that doesn't include architectural and permitting costs (or the land). We haven't decided whether we will sell it or re-rent the finished product though... right now, it's being built as a pseudo duplex with a MIL in the basement. I think I should be able to cover all my costs and turn a profit with the way the current rental market is these days. If not, we will sell. If we had to pay for this land, the deal with wouldn't be worth it. There's no way. I don't know how you would be able to build in these markets like Portland and Seattle, make a profit if you have to deal with land acquisition. At least I know my lots are build-able and they are already hooked up to utilities. Based on all my research, the only one making money building are the builders and development companies with deep pockets. I don't know if my post is helpful but I'm knee deep in these projects and I sure wish I had someone locally that could advise me! 

@Nnabuenyi Anigbogu thank you!! 

@Nnabuenyi Anigbogu

May I ask, how are you financing these deals? I have a decent sized portfolio of buy and holds but my husband and I want to add more and do a few flips. We have $60K in cash but we run into trouble with conventional investor financing. Any suggestions? Thanks tons and congrats, your story is very motivating! 

Hi @Jordan Low, I'm also a born and raised Seattle investor and property manager. My husband and I will be attending the meetup in Kirkland on Friday, it will be our first. My husband is Canadian and is looking to make local real estate friends like yourself to get to know the market better and talk strategy - add in a workout and he'd be in heaven! Let me know if you want to meetup. =) 

@Evan Higginbotham - I will be in touch this week! 

Thanks @Alex Chin, I appreciate the referrals, I will be in touch with these folks. 

Thanks @Manolo D. and @Alex Chin - that's great advice, I really appreciate it. 

@Greg H. you're right, this is a big undertaking, I'm practically building a new house (which was my original plan) however, that proved to be less fruitful. Selling might be a good option.

My concern is that it would likely attract a flipper or builder who is going to analyze the same numbers and try to nickel and dime us, especially since the foundation needs about $20K worth of work. It's a great leverage point. So, maybe we test the market and see, it can't hurt and then if it's likely to procure less than $350K, we bite the bullet and rehab.