Financing options for developing raw land

[Mike Brautigam]

Hi all,

We have family property that a portion was recently released from the ALR. We're now looking at submitting a subdivision proposal. The neighbours on both sides have recently subdivided and sold off almost all their lots. They're telling us it has cost them approx $25k/lot to develop which would put us around the $200k mark ( 8 lots + remaining 13 acres still in ALR). Seems pretty expensive to me (we just finished splitting 1 lot into 2 at a different property) but they did have to blast/rockhammer and we are required to pave a path and put in fancy lamp posts. We plan on doing a significant portion of the developing but we are trying to figure out the best option for financing.

My wife and I are picking up and moving to a new town to develop this property. We'll have accommodations and no debt and wont have a problem finding jobs in the meantime as we are both professionals.

My question, given the circumstance is there a better option than a heloc I should be looking into for financing? We do have 2 loc's with $70k max cap right now.

We also plan on forming a company before this all sets in motion, i'm not sure if that matters or if you have any advice regarding this?

thanks!