All Forum Posts by: Eric Teran

@Paul Sandhu I'm lucky right now. If this lasts for a few months I don't know if my new guests will be able to foot the bill if they have to keep extending their stay. I'm also not making as much as before but it is something which is better than nothing. 

@Robert Johnson II Ecuador is a great place! They use the dollar so it makes it easy. However, some items are expensive. Mainly the items that are imported. Everything local is cheap. Send me a DM if you have any questions.

I own two STR in Quito, Ecuador and one in my basement where I live in Alexandria, VA. Like everyone else I had two days where I had 8 cancellations. My heart sunk and I knew it was going to be tough.

However, two weeks later my two STR in Ecuador are occupied and my Alexandria one would have been as well. We decided against renting our basement since we decided to shelter in place and realized we could not control those demands if we rented the basement. However before this decision was made we received three inquiries in one day for 3-4 weeks stays.

As for Ecuador, they are being occupied by tourist who have been stranded there because the airports have been closed. They are also staying multiple weeks.

Reservations for a few days or the weekend will not come back until this dies down. Which may be months. However medium stays of greater than 2-3 weeks may happen. I am sure this will vary depending the region and circumstance but all is not lost. Yet.

Good Luck.

@Christopher Aguilera contacting zoning as @Greg Dickerson mentioned is your first step. However, they will not tell you what can be built. They will tell you the restrictions. Once you understand the restrictions then it becomes a puzzle until you find the right design to maximize the square footage of the building. If you are in a big city or county most likely most of the zoning information may be found online.

First find out the zone. Then ask the following restrictions, setbacks (front, side, rear), height (does the penthouse count?), FAR (floor area ratio which is the max SF for the lot), lot occupancy (how much area can the building take up on the lot), green area ratio or pervious surfaces (a lot of places now require soft scale or where water can collect and not drain to the storm drain), parking requirement per unit (can the parking be offset if near public transportation), affordable housing, any view corridors to preserve, is it a historical neighborhood, minimum size per unit, and any public enhancements required? This may be overkill but if you don’t ask all these questions (I have experienced all of these at least once in various projects) it may ruin your profit.

Once you are done with zoning you need to go to the building department. The two big question for me is if you go over three floors do they require something other than wood frame construction. The second is in theory you can add 10 more units. That will require a much bigger water meter, water lateral and sewer. How much do those cost to upsize? For example in DC one of my clients had an existing 3/4” meter and had to go to a 1.5” meter. He had to pay $10k. These items can kill all your profit.

Good Luck.

@Barry Ruby that was great information. To add to all this information remember that you will have to pay for this all out of pocket. A bank will not lend you the money to prepare the plans. They wait until there is a building permit. Going through a variance, hearings, designs, building permit and so on will cost a lot of money. As I mentioned before the biggest factor from what you have stated is getting the variance to subdivide. I would make sure that once subdivided you can build what you need to make a profit. 

@Scott Savard If the town has already denied subdivisions then this will be extremely complicated. You need to find out why. Was it the town, the neighbors, or both. If these are all one-acre lots with small homes then most of the neighbors will probably want to keep it that way. I've walked neighborhoods before and would talk to the people who were outside and find out the history. Twice that lead me to forget about a lot for good. Call the zoning and planning department and see how far off the requirements two lots would be. For example, a lot has to adhere to a certain size and usually street frontage. If the minimum lot is 20k square feet and you propose one lot at 20k SF and the second at 18k SF then you are not that far off and can state that the character of the neighborhood remains intact. If they are both under 10k then you are changing the so-called character. That is the first part. Figure out how far of the subdivided lots will be from the required minimum. Also, call the people on the board who will vote for a variance and get their stance on subdivisions. If there are 5 board members and they all say they are 100% against variance for subdivisions then you have your answer. 

The second part is finding out from the zoning department what you can build on a lot. First, find out what zone it is located in. Most cities and counties have this information online now. That will tell you the setbacks, height limits, open space, green space, impervious space, lot occupancy, and other requirements (usually found online as well). Usually, it is a combination of those and not all of them for residential construction. Before buying the land you should know how big you can build and see if that works for your numbers. 

If you have time I would go to the zoning/planning/building departments and tell them your plan and ask for assistance. Usually, they are very helpful. Especially for beginners who they think are not trying to take advantage of the situation. Also, find out how long a subdivision normally takes and you can work that into the agreement. 

Another question, are you looking to build two homes and sell or rent them? If you are renting them maybe you can build the main house and an accessory structure that is smaller but could still be rented out. 

@Scott Savard I have purchased two lots and built houses on them. I am also an Architect that has done this numerous times for my clients. I tell you this because I think you have too many contingencies. The list you have may take a year or more for it to be approved and I don’t think a seller will go for that.

The septic, survey, and easements requirements make sense. Those are easy to do. The other items are complicated. This is the order that it will happen.

1. First you will have to subdivide the lot which takes time. Does this require a variance? You can verify with a simple phone call to the zoning or planning department. If it needs a variance you are in for an uphill battle.

2. The design review committee has to approve the plans. Are you sure this is a requirement? Is it the city review board or some HOA review board?

3. Building permit. This is easy and is not a concern.

I think you can ask for a few extra months if you need a variance to subdivide the lot. After that getting a home approved by a committee and a building permit is no problem. Unless you want to build an enormous house that is not in character with the neighborhood. I would do more homework, for example, how much are utility connections going to cost? This can be a very big number.

Another option is called, “the right of first refusal.” Let’s say you offer $100k which is $50k lower than the asking price. The seller doesn’t like the idea but you tell them they can keep it on the market. If someone else offers a better chance you can match it or forget about the property and let the new bidder buy the lot. They seller may be more keen to give more contingencies. Of course the downside is you don’t have something locked in.

Good luck.

@Omar Butler I am an Architect and like to refer a few Contractors to clients and friends. A few question for you first, what type of work are you going to do, what is your budget, and where is the project located? If you give me that info I can give you two or three contractors that I trust in the DMV area.

@Wyatt Franta I think for now it would probably be better to learn Sketchup. It is a free program for personal use and if you ever need to upgrade to the Pro version it is around $500. There are tons of video tutorials. That is how I learned. For Revit, I suggest taking a class to start. Actually, in Sketchup, you can even draw in virtual reality which is amazing! My clients love to see their projects in VR. It changes their assertiveness in their decision making and they fully understand what they are getting. I suggest learning Sketchup which is more fun than Revit.

If you ever change your career to an Architect you will use both and many other programs. However, to become an Architect it is a 5-year bachelor program or a 3-year master program and then you have to pass a few exams. California has a supplemental exam that I took which is extremely hard. 

@Wyatt Franta the reasoning you are learning to sketch first is because drawing freehand allows your mind to be more creative. When you are starting out to be an Architect this is the process. If you want to be a draftsman then you would probably jump right into Revit and other computer programs. Once you get into an architecture firm there will not be that much hand sketching unless you are doing actual design vs production. 

When I start a design I go between hand sketching and a 3D program called Sketchup. Once the design is more refined then I do not hand sketch that much and do most everything in Sketchup. Sketchup is easier for clients to understand and quick design options may be done. When my clients agree on the design then I transfer everything over to Revit. Revit is for production and it is great! Anyone that says otherwise is not using Revit to the fullest. I compared projects with a colleague who has his own firm who still works in Autocad. The time it took me to prepare a construction set was half of what it took him. The only difference was I drew in Revit. This also allows me to charge a lesser fee to my clients and there are fewer conflicts during construction so they save money there as well.

In regards to using Revit I disagree with @Jim Goebel because Autodesk has Revit LT Suites (includes Autocad as well) for only $525 per year and it is even cheaper for the student version. The full version is $2,300 but there is no need for that unless the firm is consistently doing multi-million dollar projects and uses the additional features. If someone who is moonlighting is learning Revit during the day at their full-time job that will help them when they use Revit on their own projects. It happened to me. Learn Revit or another 3D program but do not learn 2D. You will be behind the curve if you do. 

I believe architecture is fulfilling. However, it is a lot of work and we get paid less than what people think. As Jim said you can become a CAD Monkey in a big firm which is not fun. 

Good Luck.