Teardown and Subdivision Opportunity - Where to Begin? (Concord, CA)

[Brandon Foken]

Over the last few weeks or so, I've been speaking with a gentleman who owns a parcel of land in Concord, CA. The parcel is 1.18 acres. Currently, there is a house sitting on the lot that needs to just be torn down. The owner has provided me with plans that he had drawn up 15-20 years ago that were never submitted to the city for review. So, from my eyes there is quite a bit of potential to make something happen here; the only problem is I'm not sure how to maximize the potential from this lead.

The possibilities I see in front of me are:

• Refer the lead to a developer and collect a small fee
• Get the property under contract and wholesale the contract
• Tie up the property for a period of time (either with an Option to Buy or a Purchase Agreement with a lengthy contingency period) and try to get subdivision plans drawn, submitted and approved before selling to a developer
• Somehow buy, subdivide and develop myself

My background thus far in REI is 4 deals - (1 completed flip, 1 wholesale and 2 ongoing flips). If you were in my shoes, what would you do? I think the greatest return would be from going through the entire subdivision approval process and then selling approved plans to a developer; however I have no idea the amount of time or cost required to get that done. Any recommendations from folks who deal in raw land, subdivisions or developments?

And, because I just read the very timely article from @Karen Margrave here are the lot characteristics: 

• Average lot sizes in the area are 6,000 - 10,000 sq. ft.
• Infill lot with no views (rest of the area is completely developed)
• Lot is almost completely flat
• Houses in the area are selling for roughly $330/sq. ft.
• Some other lots that have sold in the last year have gone between $115k - $200k 

[Karen Margrave]

@Brandon Foken Sounds like an adventure. First off, you'll want to check on the zoning and see what it is. What are minimum lot sizes? If zoning allows smaller lots, and I'm sure it probably does, you may be able to do some type of a joint venture with a local developer. I'm sure land in Concord is hard to come by. If there's been any other homes built on infill lots in the area, that would be a good place to start. 

I've also written some blogs and other posts that might help with the thought process

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