Finding land to build on

[Khiada E.]

Just looking for a little advice on finding land and how to go about building my first home.

Me and my partner just decided to have our first home built instead of finding a fixer upper and remodeling. I am a wholesaler and a carpenter myself so I know what comes with the building part, but I am not sure how to go about starting the process such as finding the land, average or rough amount we can or will spend on permits, architect etc...Any good app or websites to find land/properties will help as well.

[Payton Chung]

If you see a vacant lot, or even a house on a large lot that you can build around, look up who owns it via the county's online parcel map and reach out to them. Also type its address into Google; it's definitely possible that it was put up for sale in the past, only to be taken off the market for lack of interest. The market for lots is pretty thin, and given their lower prices, owners don't often want to pay listing fees forever.

A general guideline on "soft costs" for estimating purposes is 20-30% of hard costs. You can keep it lower by doing some things yourself -- obviously the developer fee, perhaps brokerage or construction management. Pre-drawn house plans are another way of keeping costs down, especially if you have a fairly flat site. Most allow you to search by the house's dimensions, useful once you've established the buildable footprint.