All Forum Posts by: Bryant Brislin

The only thing that comes to mind may be insurance-related, so I'd recommend speaking to your insurance broker to see if the cost may be different due to fire damage could damage more units at a time. Also, the city's building code could be different as far as the required fire rating for party/shared walls, etc, thus the construction costs could be higher.

Those sounds like good terms. Ask for no prepayment penalty in case you entitle it sooner than the three years and want to get a construction loan.  Or if seller wants all the interest they would have gotten paid, then maybe it makes sense to agree to that. Yes, you can work on a subdivision, especially if you let the seller/lender know your intent, since some jurisdictions require that the lender of record sign the map before it gets recorded. Yes, the rental income would be your's.

I used a software named LandVision/Lightbox that helps me a lot.

For land? Or for buying rental properties? Or? Can you narrow the scope?

What Prashanth said above is true, development sucks (I've been a land broker who sells to builders for 15 years). But if you are able to risk the money without damaging yourself financially and it's truly your passion, then sure.  Every jurisdiction is different, but in general it's usually a civil engineer and/or architect and/or general contractor who can give you an idea of what is feasible.  Land Use attorneys are usually engaged for large, complex developments (although, again, maybe that's the norm in your market; I'm in California). But you'd always want to talk to the city right away (or county) and find out the development standards for the zoning that the lot is in (what are the setbacks, height limit, min lot size, etc). Permits usually come from the city/county (not neighbors) and a good civil engineer and/or architect can usually help with that. I've never heard of someone refinancing to an owner-occupied loan, especially since how could you occupy if you are marketing it and trying to show the home? Maybe I'm wrong.

@James S. your best bet is a local bank or credit union who knows that area.  It always helps if you have your deposits at the bank you are trying to get a loan from.

You likely won't find buyers on here, you have to get very local, i.e. talking to local agents who may have buyers. The problem is that many land buyers are buying as a one-off scenario, i.e. a local business person who is doing well and wants to own a plot of land...they usually are't looking to buy multiple. A lot of the big land wholesalers whole-tale the land, meaning they work to get it at 1/5 of the retail value, close on it with their own money or a private lender, and then they put it on the MLS for 2/3 of the retail price, since it's really hard to find a land buyer without putting on the MLS. I would say that hobbyist land buyers/random investors are not as active at the moment, due to the election, inflation, etc, they are sitting on their cash, waiting to see how things play out. But there definitely are still some buyers who are buying land. FYI, I'm a full time land broker.

@Paul Haefele in general lending for that asset class is soft right now and terms offered are making deals harder to pencil, but since your client already owns the land that may make it easier to get done.  If you want to reach out to me, I can try to suggest some lenders to reach out to.

You should probably engage an entitlement consultant who knows that area, the politics, etc. A civil engineer may be able to help or point you in the right direction.

I like using LandVision/Lightbox. I have my virtual assistant build a sheet of land prospects based upon criteria that I gave him, then I have it all skip traced.  I send letters, sometimes call.