All Forum Posts by: Alex Capozzolo

@Niaz Butt thanks for the tips! You're right. I think since it's 'new construction' I assume it's way more complicated, and I'm sure it comes with different challenges and factors to consider, but as long as you buy it right, have supporting new construction comps, and are confident with your cost per sf analysis, you can hit your target margin - or close to at least! Had a good conversation with @Mayer M. on Friday about time spent on new construction projects vs time spent on a regular flip.

Feeling more confident about it! Thank you for all of the advice from everyone on this thread. 

@Troy Sheets thanks for the super detailed response I really the pointers. Make sense about spreading costs out more, and building bigger since you'll always have the costs of the foundation, roof, etc regardless of the size. 

A few follow up questions...

- If you keep it to 4 stories or less, is that always a guarantee you do not need structural steel on the bottom floor?

- General budget/price difference for structural steel? 

- What measurement do you consider 'low' when measuring water pressure?  

Thanks for sharing the ups AND downs of what you've experienced!

@Mayer M. some great neighborhoods, nice work!

@Kyle Altenau wow that's crazy had no idea that all went down with the land bank. Does the city / land bank try to make money off of these lots when they allow developers to buy them? Like are they trying to make a profit? 

Wild that you have to submit an RFP, didn't realize it was such formal process! What was the primary reason your offers weren't accepted by them? 

@Mayer M. Thanks for the detailed response, I wouldn't even think that things like soil could affect a budget by $10K. That's crazy the 28 unit is the same cost psf as a Duplex. Consistency could also be a good thing. 

What neighborhoods in Philly were your new construction projects in, or was this Cherry Hill NJ? 

Also do you know anyone else doing new construction in Philadelphia? 

I would love to run land deals that we come across by someone to make sure we aren't passing up on good deals. 

Does anyone have experience with new construction in Philadelphia building on Vacant Lots? 

What is your estimated new construction cost of a SFH, or Duplex, or Triplex?

What is your MAO for Vacant Lots to still make your numbers work?

Are we all missing an opportunity with the 43,000 Vacant Lots in Philly ? Would love to hear any successes or failure stories of poeple who have bought vacant land and built successfully on it. 

@Dan L. All part of the game! No worries. 

We're getting a ton of applicants that aren't qualified. Most we have actually denied during our screenings because of credit score / other factors. The ones that have declined usually comes down to rent. $1000/mo is what we're asking since that's what the previous tenants have paid. It's difficult to find someone who is at the right time in their current hair cutting business that is ready to expand to a bigger space who are transitioning from cutting at someone else's salon. 

Ah gotcha! Sorry to hear it's cancelled. It's not easy but can still be a good opportunity so I'd stay open to things like this. 

As far as renting out the salon as a different commercial space, that all depends on what the neighborhood demands in terms of business. In Philly you see lots of salons / barbers / day cares. 

@Dan L. Haha candy-cane red! 

It's funny timing that you commenting on this. Through an insane amount of outbound tenant searching, we were able to find a new Salon tenant for the unit. We literally called the top 100 salons on Yelp in Philly, along with the Beauty and Cosmetology Schools, and ran multiple Craigslist Ads before filling the unit. Unfortunately she just told us a few days ago that she cannot afford the place because of COVID. So it's vacant again and we're back to the drawing board. We put it back up on Craigslist for $200 cheaper w/ a short-term lease just to get someone in there for now. Fingers crossed! 

We've only done Option a.) that you listed above. We like that option since it's the most hands-off. There's potentially more more renting out per chair though. It also depends on your state (or county) as to the legality of renting out per chair. From what we Googled, it didn't seem legal in our market but does differ per area! I would look into that as well if you go that route. Good luck! 

Good luck! 

@Elijah Withers the CRM we use is Podio. Works great on laptop but the mobile is just ok imo. There's a free version, and you can upgrade/pay per month to customize it more. 

I would call a few CRM's that pop up on Google and request that they demo their mobile apps to you. There's SO many CRM options so it also depends on your needs for managing your pipeline / leads. 

Google Drive is handy to use for certain things - even via the mobile apps you can get for Google Docs and Google Sheets.