All Forum Posts by: Gene Maltsev

Thanks @Manolo!

Here's another question for everyone in this thread:

How difficult would it be to take an existing property in need of renovation and expand its sq footage...

Suppose you have a 2br/1ba 1000sqft home. Would it be difficult to obtain a permit to add another level to the house? Would it be difficult to obtain a permit to change the zoning from R1 to R2 or R3? 

Would there be another requirement to survey the foundation, structure and support again, requiring time, money, etc.?

Thank you in advance for your input.

Thanks Karen, I really appreciate your feedback!

I think I'll stick to setting my sights on flipping for now.

Good luck to you and everyone with their projects!

Gene

@James What I would bring is capital and design experience in addition to whatever else I can do...like pulling permits, coordinating/admin, etc. I would do whatever's necessary to get the project to completion. I don't mean to sound vague but I'm interested in the learning experience more than payout at this point. 

I would love to work with someone trustworthy (wouldn't we all).

I have some capital and time and I like working with my hands.

How likely am I to find developers out here (in CA) that would want to partner on a small-size project (be that single family flip, rental, etc)?

I wouldn't want to dive into anything without having an experienced and trusted partner. I'm willing to give up some equity to learn the business. 

Does that seem like a reasonable proposition? Anything you think I should watch out for?

Thank you all again!

Wow, thank you all for the insightful feedback. This is definitely info I will put to good use. 

@Mark So happy to be here, thank you again for your hospitality.

Gene

I'd love to attend but I have another engagement that weekend. Are there any future meet-ups that might take place during the week?

Thanks!

Wish I'd seen this earlier.. When is the next one?

Hello BP!

I'm new to this forum and RE investing in general so please bear with me, especially if my questions seem a bit rudimentary. 

I just moved out to LA and currently living in an up and coming area within 10mi of downtown LA and 5mi of Pasadena. 

I've been reading and learning from some of the posts here as much as I can and an investment idea came to me which I haven't been able to fully hash out and therefore I was hoping that some of you could perhaps shed some light on:

There are quite a number of vacant lots in the area I'm in that are selling for $25-80k. Some of these lots are located in an underdeveloped area, which means that utilities (water, sewer, elect and gas) haven't fully been connected yet, although the listings say they're "close by." Others (on the higher end of the pricing spec), are connected but the land is on a slope. In fact, most or all of these lots are located on a slope. The land is zoned for residential and allows for construction of a fairly large unit (in terms of sq ft). One lot I looked at is quite large and even allows for a building.

So, assuming that the cost of grading and excavating runs around $10k, the X factor in this becomes the cost of running utilities (power, gas, sewer) to the lot.

I like to be conservative and estimate that the cost of land is $50k. So now we're up to $60k (with excavation and grading). Cost to build is (conservatively) $150/sq-ft. and we build a 1200 sqft home which comes out to $180k. 

What am I missing in this equation? Does anyone know what the cost of connecting sewer, water, gas and elect might run?

It seems like there is enough room for profit, but then again, I'm a newbie and I'm sure that there's stuff I've missed here. Plus, I wouldn't want to take on a project of this magnitude by myself.

I would just like to ask if some of you could perhaps go over the numbers with me and tell me what I'm not seeing. Clearly, if there was a potential to make money here, I would think that others would long have jumped in.

Thank you kindly!