All Forum Posts by: Caleb Webster

@Jay Hinrichs Yeah wouldn't surprise me, nothing comes that easy with BDS. The benefit of splitting the lot and selling the house on it is my holding costs for the lot are next to zero. Still might be worth it. Do you have any new starts in Multnomah co?

@Jay Hinrichs In R1 you can build 1 unit per 1000 sq.ft. There is a design overlay (a) that allows for 50% bonus density for projects that voluntarily submit to a type III design review (not sure what that entails). If I understand that correctly, I should be able to build 18 units on a 12k sq ft. lot. I would definitely need to chat with BDS about that before moving forward though. 

@Jay Hinrichs It's zoned R1 off Division near i205. I've done lot splits before and it is an easy, profitable model. I want to eventually get into development though so thought this might be a simple, first foray into that world. Might have to look to do that else where.

@Jay Hinrichs The property in question is 16k sq ft with a small house 2/1 on the front of it. I would make a flag lot adjustment and sell the house which would essentially give me a 12k sqft flag lot for about $30-40k. The lot is in SE but not in a desirable enough area to fetch 3-4 caps on an exit. With what you're saying though, it doesn't even pencil out to build a 10-12 unit even with a lot that is virtually free. 

How long do you think it will be before the city realizes the damage they've done?? 

I haven't looked into the condo/townhouse scenario though, that might make more sense. 

Wow, as if cost per square foot and land weren't expensive enough. No wonder there's an affordability crisis in Portland...

@Chris Shepard $40k a unit?? Did I read that correctly? So a 15 unit build would incur $600k in fees? That seems ridiculous. $150-200 is just hard costs correct?

@Kevin Dickson Can we get a status update? I'm curious to see what came of this. I'm in a similar boat right now, looking into multifamily development costs for a plot near my house. 

I'm in the process of underwriting a potential development opportunity in SE before I make an offer. The plan would be to hold the property as a single family rental for a year or two while beganing the development process. For those of you with experience developing small apartments in the PDX metro, what are some of the 'back of the napkin' development calculations you make when doing cursory underwriting? 

@Charles Han Welcome to the PNW! You're already off to a great start by educating yourself as much as possible. Decent multifamily properties are difficult to come by here but they do exist and there are dozens of awesome investors on this site that can help you in your search. 

I would suggest attending a meet up if you haven't done so already. @Mike Nuss runs the Rare Bird investor network which is an absolute incredible resource for investors of shapes and sizes. 

If you ever want to talk shop, shoot me a DM and we can grab coffee!

@Dakota Mivshek I just asked someone in BDS this question a few weeks ago. Currently in Multco the limit is one. There might be changes to this rule though within the year with the proposed overlay zone that has been sent to the City council for a vote. The woman I spoke to at the city seemed confident that the limit would be increased to at least 2 per lot, within certain parameters.