All Forum Posts by: David Bohn

 Agreed.  I've been fortunate to wear both hats as a civil engineer and developer as well.  My experience and network has helped me formulate and hone in my expertise in the development process, while at the same time giving me insight to where future developments are heading and areas that could be most developmentally advantageous.   This gives me a significant headstart over other developers / builders in my market areas.

While it's true, you won't typically learn much about zoning code, permitting processes, etc. through your degree, however you should gain this experience through your career.  The only aspect that I may contradict what's being said in this thread is that I strongly believe a civil engineer being involved in the entitlement / zoning procedures is imperative.  Although much of the decision making is based on concepts and attractive sketches / exhibits, the engineer is who makes it all work.  Nothing worse than getting a conceptual site plan re-approved because it doesn't function.

As far as cost control, unfortunately the civil typically only controls the cost of his/her fee, but you will have other consultants that will be part of the process - surveyor, geotech, environmental engineer, architect, landscape architect, planner, attorney, etc.  You could work on your network to see if these consultants would work on sweat equity with you to save you on cost.

The real worth is what you bring to the table - experience in the process, expertise in the market, and potentially a network that can make you successful.  Hope that helps.

The best way to start is to network and to learn as much as you can along the way.  I do land development throughout the PHX metro, mostly MF residential.  Land development requires a team - you can't do it all on your own.  You're going to need a surveyor, a civil engineer, a geotech engineer, an environmental engineer, an architect, a site lighting engineer, maybe a traffic engineer, landscape architect, and likely an attorney at some point.  These are the experts that you have to lean on to make you successful, but you also need to understand, at least on a macro level, the development process, entitlements, permitting, etc.  It may seem overwhelming at first, but as you do more and get more familiar with it, it will become 2nd nature.

I'm always open to chat some more if you'd like, but I hope this helps you get started.

Hey Austin,

This type of information is tremendously helpful.  It seems to be tracking status of the areas, which if there's still momentum in those areas could help situate someone for future growth.  I'm wondering if there's a way a show other demographics and statistics that drive the growth to those areas.  For instance, new businesses, salary growth, etc.  The areas you specifically mentioned have seen growth due to those factors (Buckeye - industrial expansion; Surprise - TSMC plant relocated).  As a developer and land consultant, to have that kind of information at the forefront is incredibly valuable.

Hopefully that helps.

Hey.  It looks like you have this one pretty well dialed in.  I'm curious where your $450k number comes from and how does that compare with the current market?  Seems to be a deep cut in price if the market can bear the $695k asking price.  Hopefully you get it.

It looks like your strategy would work out great, especially if you can get it anywhere close to $450k.  It starts to lean out if the price goes up from there.

I'll leave the other question for a lending expert.

Best of luck.

This may be an unpopular perspective, but I believe long term hold is going to win out on short term 9 times out of 10.  Several things to consider: 1.  Volatility of the market.  You may make a quick return in a hot market, but the moment that market turns south (which it inevitably will) you will be scrambling to not lose everything you just gained;  2.  Taxes.  Taxes are higher flipping the property.  You don't have the benefit of maximizing cost segregation, long term capital gain, 1031 exchange, refinancing / lending, passive income vs regular income, etc.  3.  Gains in a long term hold can be refinanced and used for another property, but the gain is not taxed.

I originally wanted to flip homes and make quick gains when I started investing.  Fortunately it was during the 2008 crisis and we were forced to hold those homes we bought for like $40k each.  We still have them today and each one is worth closer to $400k.  We were trying to sell each one to make maybe $10k each.  We pulled the equity out strategically and bought more as often as we could. 

I would highly recommend long term over short on "most" transactions.

 I'm based out of AZ, specifically the Phoenix Metro area.  Our development group is BFH Group.  Would love to connect if you're ever in the area.

 It's good to hear from like-minded investor / developers.  We've been doing land development and entitlement for a little over 20 years, initially as a consultant (civil engineer & owner representative), and I have to agree there is a significant risk to land entitlement.  However, like any investment, when you are familiar with the process, markets, people, etc., you learn how to mitigate that risk.  We're now developing approx 1000 du at different stages.  It's been challenging to say the least, but the rewards have been better than any other investment vehicle I'm aware of.

We have been actively involved with the entitlement side of multi-family investing.  Our strategy typically involves tying up a property that we feel has a strong probability of entitlement for multi-family use.  There are several niches that we will explore and focus in order to be successful, but we have found that we typically see returns of 2-5 times of our original investment.

The challenge with entitlement is there's definitely quite a bit more risk involved as well as a very complicated process (hence the higher return).  We are fortunate that land development is something we've been doing for several decades, but each site presents its own challenges and rewards.  Just wanted to share a lesser known investment vehicle for Commercial / MF.  Good luck.

Many of the above comments are very spot-on.

Not sure if this comment will help, but maybe there's a way to get the best of both worlds if you can build this studio separate from the building and split the lot?  Just a thought.

Hey Steven.  The entitlement process is tricky most the time.  Even when we try to simplify by going through County versus City, there are still nuances that you'll want to make sure you cover before you move on your decision.   I'll put out the disclaimer that I do land development and entitlement in Arizona mostly, and more specifically to the PHX metro area, so I'm not as familiar with Colorado.  

That all being said, here in AZ, most the cities I work in are also in Maricopa County.  If it's a County island, there is an understanding between the Cities and the County that they will work hand in hand.  Some items to be aware of include, but not limited to:  zoning in County may conflict with the City, utilities that belong to the City infrastructure may require that you annex the property prior to rezoning or other entitlement, County development standards may be different or less stringent than City standards which would cause the development to be non-compliant when annexed.

I would echo the same as Bryant Brislin, you will definitely want to connect with someone that can navigate this process for you.  Small obstacles can become very expensive or time-consuming when you don't know the processes.

I hope this helps.  Good luck!