All Forum Posts by: Ashley O.

Thanks Josh.  Ideally, I can sell for cash and move on..

That said, this is great advice and something certainly worth considering!

Greetings all,

I am a home builder in Portland, OR and have a manufactured home on a lot that I will be building on.  The manufactured home needs to be moved off site.

The manufactured home is in great all-around shape including a new roof.  I think it's worth something in addition to the moving costs required to get it to its new location.

Does anyone have any advice on how to market this thing?  I've cleaned it up and have a nice description with good photos on Craigslist.  Any other places you'd reccomend getting the word out?  I'd prefer not to use a broker and am not licensed as one myself. Ideally, it would be a simple private sale by owner.

Thanks for any input!

-Ashley

Thanks @Jerry Puckett, 

Great advice.  I think I will start with a good old fashioned driving for dollars campaign in 3 hot commercial nodes and see what happens.

Am I correct in assuming that it's a little more difficult to get a commercial deal done without a broker?  Perhaps this is just a mental impediment I need to set aside.  We have no problem getting it done without brokers in the single family world with the help of water tight contracts and great relationships with title.

Thanks,

-Ashley

Greetings!

I am an infill home builder in Portland, OR. I aspire to transition into commercial mixed use development.

We've had some great success with sourcing deals via direct mail campaigns for single family homes.

In Portland, there are many under-utilized commercial properties that currently are not at their highest and best potential, based on location and zoning. Many of these properties are in poor condition, next to very nice new adjoining properties.

I'm curious if anyone else has done a commercial marketing campaign to source new projects? My main question revolves around the message copy and the media that you put in on? I have a hunch that a hand written yellow letter isn't going to fly in the commercial world? Maybe I'm wrong?

I have a pretty decent understanding of real estate finance and the nuts and bolts of cash flow. More importantly though I think, I have several friends I can lean on who are commercial developers who can help build out a pro forma to filter leads when they come in.

Big picture, I'm wondering how you might recommend approaching commercial property owners with direct marketing??

Thanks for any input!!

-Ashley

@Landon Thomas  Thanks for the great advice.  Good point.  I think at this juncture, we may want to have each project be its own 'island'.

@J Scott Excellent considerations. My PM has his own LLC and is a licensed contractor, so we should be good there. He does do side projects, and ironically enough, I just verified with my tax professional and attorney and the current structure should hold water legally and with the IRS. Btw, I really enjoyed your Diary of a New Construction Project. It's a great resource!

Greetings!

I am an infill home builder and wholesaler in Portland, OR.

We've had some great success with direct mail campaigns for single family homes.

In Portland, there are many under-utilized commercial properties that currently are not at their highest and best potential, based on location and zoning.  Many of these properties are in poor condition. I.e. A run down car repair shop right next to a shiny new 60 unit apartment complex in a hot area.  

I'm curious if anyone else has done a commercial driving for dollars campaign?  My main question revolves around the message copy and the media that you put in on?  I have a hunch that a hand written yellow letter isn't going to fly in the commercial world?  Maybe I'm wrong?

I have a pretty decent understanding of real estate finance and the nuts and bolts of cash flow. More importantly though I think, I have several friends I can lean on who are commercial developers who can help build out a pro forma to filter leads when they come in.

Big picture, I'm wondering how you might recommend approaching commercial property owners with direct marketing??

Thanks for any input!

-Ashley

Greetings!

I'm an infill home builder and rehabber in Portland, OR.

We currently focus on higher margin projects and are taking down about 4 projects a year. Anything else that comes across our plate from direct marketing we will wholesale.

I focus on running the business and have a project manager who runs the construction day to day for me.

I currently pay him 2k per month, per project.  I share in the upside of each project with a bonus, but it usually varies.  My project manager and I have a 1099 relationship, not W2.

I'm wondering how others compensate their project managers who have similar business models??  

I think it's time I institute a formal compensation package. I'd like to structure something that gives my PM ownership over the project and gives him strong incentive to build the best possible product that is on time and on budget.  Perhaps build in something to the package that penalizes him for schedule and budget delays that are well within his control?

Curious what others think?  What has worked well for you?

Thanks!

-Ashley