All Forum Posts by: Steve K

@ Rich - Good numbers on these. I've always wondered how feasible it was to build spec in different areas and still regret not setting up a second base in New Orleans post Katrina. Sounds like it's completely feasible if you have the right contractor relationship.

@ Tod - 10% is way too high. What I do is go to an online site like eplans.com and find a few options that I generally like. From there you can either buy the plans online and have them tailored or once you have a pretty good idea of what you want you can hire your own draftsman as Rich mentioned. 1% is about right. Ideally you want to pick a house that you can have a few different exterior elevation options yet the interior remains basically the same. This will allow you to easily forecast your future build costs.

It's probably worth doing an entirely separate post but how you spend your money completing a spec can have significant financial impact on your end result. I used to hang around my houses as a customer throughout the parade of homes every year just to hear the unvarnished comments of potential buyers. The items that jumped out at them were usually a lot different than what I thought were the important items. I'd recommend going on any parade of homes that you can and just listen to what features people really comment on - usually it's the cheap and easy stuff.

Was this done in your home town where you oversaw the project or from a distance through a trusted contractor?

I'd like to get back in to spec building as that is what i know the best, but like many others have stated the local market just isn't supporting it.

Would love to be building and living in Austin but wouldn't be able to convince the better half to move there without her landing a good job in her field beforehand.

Seems like flipping will always be a viable option as long as you buy right in whichever state the market is in. It does seem pretty unlikely that people will be able to keep up the volume of deals as the market shifts, but in a sellers market the deals should become more profitable.

Another good option once the scales tip is to build specs. It's a low stress business ( as long as you don't over leverage and can sell your product ).

The small scansnap, the s1300 I think. It's an excellent machine for $200 ish

I'd take the safe route. Piercing the corporate veil is a pretty difficult unless there is obvious commingling of personal and business funds, but why give any potential opposing counsel any extra ammo.

High rise is a good choice. Highrisehq.com

Use a combination of the turbo scan app for iPhone as well as the Fujitsu scan snap scanner. Once scanned everything is loaded to Dropbox and sharepoint.

Mike - I don't have anything teed up at the moment but will drop you a line for future items.

I'd probably call a loan officer and ask the question to be safe but as long as the bank has the right to their collateral I don't think they'll care who is named on the deed. As far as the heloc goes I'm not sure, that might an issue.

Just curious how the rehab and flip market is in either city? In the New Orleans area are there a lot of good deals on the north shore or is it mostly South shore?