All Forum Posts by: Jacob Kline

@Robin Searle in my area- St Augustine, FL- we have specific zoning requirements which have been set before Airbnb and VRBO became popular. It is a tourist town to a degree.

Many people and even insititutions entered the STR game and purchased properties at high prices, anticipating returns 5x that of standard long term rentals (1 year, 18m etc). These people didn't look into the zoning requirements and purchased in neighborhoods that only allow 1 rental per 7 day time period. They have been renting on a nightly basis at much higher rates than a one week rental warrants. Our city has just announced that they will enforce the existing law. This has obviously lead people to become worried about their returns.

I never entered the STR game because these properties sold at overinflated values which wouldn't cashflow, should the gov't enforce the existing law. Now it's happening and I'm just waiting to pick up the cheap properties people sell at a loss because they didnt do their due diligance.

Side note, people are talking about suing agents because they were “mislead” about zoning. It will be interesting to see how it plays out here.

@Chris Moore I live about 30 minutes from Daytona. Might be able to help you with some local contacts for construction, PM, and site development. What is the acreage of the unused land?

@Mike Wood great advice! There are plenty of comps in the neighborhood of $170-180/ sqft, new construction. The 3/2 at 1100sqft is pretty common in this neighborhood as we are a pricey market and people just want to live within 30 mins of work. It’s definitely small, and I’d never live in one but there is an appetite for it

@Greg Dickerson will check it out. Thanks for the feedback, Gary!

@Bob Prisco haha, I like a challenge- what can I say? Even though this deal seems pretty simple as long as the #s are right. $85 per foot is not including utilities, meaning water and sewer. Do you mean utilities as in washer, dryer, fridge, etc?

Thanks for the reply!

@Greg Dickerson great info there. What do you do in the Charlottesville market? I almost went to UVA, beautiful place

@Greg Dickerson then I would be subject to the contractor putting a markup on materials or buying extra materials for themselves, right? This is my first project, so would like to be involved at some level to learn the process and be able to build 2 after the first sells, etc

@Greg Dickerson great info! I think I missed the site work and engineering. I was hoping to use a plan that my contractor already uses just because it sells and it’s easy. As far as utilities, I have the “water connection” and “septic” lines for that. Also, the construction cost includes me ordering the materials, but I know people who can build these entry level homes for $75 per foot in other areas of FL.

@Parker Eberhard thanks for the reply! Yes, $85 per foot is correct for entry level homes here in FL- I’m sure it’s much more pricey in Seattle. The “water connection” and “septic” lines cover the utilities, as far as I know.

I’m a brand new investor located in St Johns County, FL. It’s difficult to find flip or rental deals here so I plan on building entry level new construction homes to build my liquidity. I know that if my #s are right, the home will sell which will allow me to build/sell 2 on the next go round, etc.

I’m wondering if I’m missing anything here in my #s so far?

So here it is:

Bought the land at a tax deed sale, plan to build a 1100sqft 3/2 home (entry level) with my own cash.

Land: $2400

Survey: $500

Quiet Title: $2500

Plans: $1000

Permitting: $3000

Impact Fees: $0 (impact credit)

Water connection fees: $5200

Septic system: $10000

Construction ($85 per sqft): $93500

Cost = $118,100