All Forum Posts by: Alex S.

@Kevin Coleman I started out with a HML (Lima One) by myself and it went great made 32K in two months...but I had been a contractor for 12 years, so that helped. Most people lose because they do not know the rehab cost or hire the wrong contractor.

@Jaysen Medhurst I actually plan to keep going, may lower the footage. Thing is, on one house the funding did not go through before this hit, so I am building out of pocket, but if lending on new construction does not open up and start funding by next month I will stop on that one until I can get funding.

Just curious where most think new construction is headed. I am building two houses and was wondering if I should stop or make the houses smaller. A house across the street listed Friday for $299,999 at 2250sqft. My houses are 3100sqft, but my agent thinks I should lower the square footage because I probably will not get much more if any because of where the market is headed. Lowering the square would of course cost me a lot less to build, but I didn't mind, because I could sell for more. She doesn't think so because of the market now. But houses will not be complete until Sep, so I was thinking that by then things should be back up and running.

I 

@Joe Splitrock  my thoughts exactly

I'm not Nostradamus, so I have no idea how it will affect RE, in fact really haven't thought of it much. As for me I am  still moving forward with my flips and I have a couple of lots I purchased last week and will still move forward with construction soon as plans are ready

@Ian Jaeger: I love buying lots with existing foundation as long as they are good. Here in Georgia we are required to have a structural engineer to sign off saying foundation is still good, and then I have my architect to draw plans to fit existing foundation. I built two last year on existing foundations and saved me about $13K for each lot

@Odie Ayaga...Actually I was told that by one lender, which is crazy because I can still do that even with the houses I am selling

@Jeff Cichocki., Thanks for contact. I went to his site, however it is down right now. I actually use Lima One for all my flips and new construction, but once again they only lend to my s-corp and I am not allowed to switch title from s-corp to myself and refinance. I thought I could build the house with hard money, transfer title from s-corp to my name and then refinance, but it seems I cannot do that. But anyway I will start checking with some local lenders, thanks again

@Odie Ayaga. No I do not provide receipts. When applying for loan for new construction, I have to provide a take off (estimate), with soft cost and hard cost, with a set of plans. Then they review them. The thing is, make sure your numbers are right because if they approve you for $200K to build, that is all they are lending, even if you find out you are 10K short on something.

@ Steven Lee, I will purchase under my personal name because I actually plan to live in the home. The problem is lenders will only allow me be my own builder if it's for investment and they will then lend to my s-corp then I can be my own GC, but they will not lend to me to be my own GC if I plan to live the property. Which makes no sense to me.

@Jeff Cichocki, Jeff I have not tried any local banks, I actually just had a friend who is a mortgage broker shop around for me. I figured she would have more connections, I actually send all my FHA buyers to her, but after about a week of searching she found no one that will allow me to be my own builder in Georgia (if I am going to live in the home) even though I have license and have built several houses. But thanks, I will check with some local banks and credit unions

I'm stuck and can't seem to come up with any ideas on how to move forward, but I'm sure someone on here has the solution and solved this problem plenty of times.

 I'm looking for an owner builder's loan, so that I can be my own builder, however my mortgage broker friend told me that she could not find a lender that allows it in Georgia and that I would have to hire a contractor. The problem is I am a contractor, I built 3 houses last year alone, but all for investment. I used hard money. I have plenty of lenders that will let me be my own builder IF it's for investment, but not for a primary resident, even reached out to Normandy and they said no because it will be a primary resident. So is it possible to just obtain a HML and build the property then sell it to myself? But I believe that is a non- arms-length -transaction. Is there anyway I can make this happen? The land will cost $50K and to build will cost me $225K, all houses in subdivision are going for $468K and up, so I will have instant equity. If there is such a loan, what would I need to qualify? Should I buy the land cash and then search for a loan?