All Forum Posts by: Robert Chuang

@Jane Garzona oh nice! I live near Baldwin and longden! 

@Jane Garzona Hey Jane, I agree with  everyone’s comment above. Furthermore, I would make effort to learn, understand and interpret municipal code. On top of that, familiar yourself with run numbers for construction and as well as investment side of things. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions, willing to help the community as much as I can! 

@Alex Blonigan I agree that it would be tough for a contractor to give out their "numbers" due to the fact it takes years (and many projects) to figure out. Even as a GC myself, we sometimes have to go out of our network to meet new subs. So that way we can keep our subs honest or on their toes. Definitely a lot of work lol. However, I would say there are people who you can hire to save money on your construction but you will need to have certain knowledge so they don't bs you and get away with things. Hope that helps!

As far as cost, I would try to get 3 bids on each jobs (if you are new) maybe even 5 bids (seems excessive but you will learn a lot by talking to each trade). Also, it is better to hire someone who knows what he is doing for the first time so you can learn it "right", it will build your knowledge and standard for quality of work from the start.

@Jorge Ramsés García Hey Jorge, I think is more so a personal question for yourself. I had to purchase a property in Milwaukee and ended up burning down to realized I didn't want to invest out of state lol. Or the experience horrified me. Even then, I am still okay with investing out of state if I come across any good deal. You should expect to work out the kinks (people and resources) when you are investing out of your area. 

Investing in LA is expensive, however, you can feel, see, and touch your properties. Although sometimes the numbers don't work, there is always a deal out there.

@Bruce P. Hey Bruce, I believe you can contact few window and door suppliers for the door. I do have a referral in irwindale. He supplies our windows and doors for my development projects.

@William Samuel Johnson it looks like bmc is offering pre-assemble frame. We worked on pre-assemble steel cages for our caisson work. It doesn’t reduce your cost, but you do save time. It’s like a pre-fab home. The cost is essentially the same, but you have the house assemble on site hence the time saving.

Numbers I am mentioning is base on experience of my previous projects. We track cost of each project per trade and misc to keep each trade honest for the next project. Sorry can’t share any spreadsheet because it’s trade information. But I am confident numbers won’t be too far off from what I’m telling you. 

I suggest to explore your construction cost more in-depth. if you end up GCing your project for the first. Be very careful and set budget aside for errors. 

@William Samuel Johnson

All the reasoning given are all very valid and I’m aware of that. Have you GC, your own project before? Or experience in construction? I’m a developer and contractor for hillside development. I studied construction engineering at cal poly Pomona. My “at cost” for flat land development would be around $175-200/sqft. If you are doing planned development, yes you can push to possibly $125/sqft with 50 houses and up, but seems like you are building one house only? 

@William Samuel Johnson

Have you spoke with those builders and if they are willing to do those project for you at cost? Where is the profit for them?

I do agree a lot of tract home builders

“Might” possibly get that 110 dollars a sqft but that’s their cost with larger tract home style production. My concern is your construction cost. I would suggest to work off a preliminary design and show to few builders

Originally posted by @Rachel S.:

Originally posted by :

"There are no buildable lots in the Los Angeles area that are worth so little..."

Not true.

You can absolutely buy buildable lots in Los Angeles for less than $100k, @Rachel S.. You need to quit looking for acreage in Beverly Hills.  🤣  Ha.

Property is located in Mt. Washington. Not a bad area. Here are comps for the adjacent lot (click on the image to expand it).

I waited to add to my post because I wanted to get a recent update from title and also for the first time, I spoke to the escrow company.

The homeowner who showed up in the property and confronted our borrower was the real owner and never sold his house. When escrow found out about the issue, they immediately called the notary who stamped the grant deed. She responded to escrow that she hadn’t been a notary for about year, after either losing her notary log book or it was stolen (not clear). When the police investigator interviewed her some time later, she said she was still a notary, but had no knowledge of this grant deed. Apparently, it was not listed in her log book. One of these has to be a lie so this obviously stinks to high heavens.

The scammer who originally called the wholesaler has not been identified, that I’m aware, and I don’t know if the police know who he is. They clearly know the notary, so you’d think they could lean on her to determine who she’s working with? Perhaps I’ve been watching too much CSI?

The wholesaler never met the (fake) seller but received all his contact info from him over the phone and by email. So did escrow, who emailed a filled-out grant deed to the him. He had it notarized and mailed it back to them. This was the fatal flaw in the deal. Escrow relied that the notarization was legit. I can’t say I blame them. We mail notarized documents to escrow companies we’ve never met all the time. The system assumes all notaries are honest.

Considering that almost everything in a real estate transaction is a matter of public record, these scams appear to be amazingly easy to pull off. So long as escrow and title companies allow anonymity, we can expect this nonsense to continue. And, don’t get me started on lending, where borrowers are continually duped by online strangers they willingly meet on the web with no real verification. That’s another topic. 

Not looking in Beverly Hills. I live in San Pedro. It's definitely not a fancy area. You still can't get a buildable lot for 100k. Those lots you list surprise me. Makes me wonder if the lot is really buildable or if the city would make you jump through so many hoops that it wouldn't be worth it.

I have 5 lots total on hillside. 3 down slopes and 2 up slopes. Prices were 201k, 165k, 220k and 175k (4 lots merge lot tie into 2). The lowest sell price would be about $1.4mm minimum to $4mm. So I think those numbers are very doable to find a profitable project.

@William Samuel Johnson hey William, how do you come about the $125 a sqft construction cost?