All Forum Posts by: Gabe Larkin

http://www.atlantaga.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=1538

Here is a link to the Arbortist Division's FAQ.

Re: Market forces: Yes, this was definitely former war zone. If you want some interesting reading on the area you can look into efforts, spearheaded by local developer Tom Cousins, focused on the revitalization of East Lake Golf Course and the surrounding community. Oddly enough the Wikipedia on East Lake does not mention a word of any of this, so here is a link to some statistics that will give you an idea of what the area was like in the mid nineties: http://www.eastlakefoundation.org/sites/courses/view.asp?id=346&page=8936

East Lake is now the site of the PGA Tour Championship and proceeds from the event go to the Foundation which continues to support parts of the community to this day.

To be clear, this is not the only force at play, there are several others, but I can say without reservation the area would not be where it is today without the efforts of Mr. Cousins and the community to turn things around at East Lake Gardens.

Oh yea, what is your time frame once you break ground on the foundation?

I can offer you two hard learned pieces of advice when dealing the City of Atlanta inspectors.

1.) Call in your inspection request no later than 3 p.m. for the next business day.

2.) If you can build a relationship with the inspector, try and get him to give you an idea of when he will be coming so you can have someone on site to address any issues immediately, if possible, so you can avoid failing an inspection. The problem is the City will not give you a time range whatsoever when the inspector will come; so you either must have a person there the entire day, or you risk failing an inspection which can easily be four days to a week for re-inspection. The problem is the results are not reported to the automated system until the inspector calls them in, which seems to be mostly at the end of the day; thus, no new inspection can be called in for by 3 pm. Further, it usually takes a least a day or two to get your sub back over there considering you do not know the result until after 5 pm. Then you have to verify the work was done correctly (before 3 pm!) before calling it in, or you risk starting the cycle all over again. It can be a monumental time waster and extremely frustrating.

My local licensed trades all had good relationships with the inspector and would contact him and meet him during the inspection so they address any minor issues. They passed first time, no sweat. Huge time saver.

Re: The price of the lot; I can confirm that lots can be found with those ratios in the area, although it is getting tougher. I bought a tear down literally in between J's house and Aaron's house for 13k that I ended up selling to another investor. I think he ended up getting 240k for new construction ~1400-1500 sq. ft. It was in a slightly dodgy area, and he originally was asking 275k so it sat on the market a little while.

Re: architecture fees; I too think 4k is high but that is in line with what Aaron has posted that he spends iirc. Did the architect walk it through the permit process for you? Again, I think Aaron said that is what he does, but he says it takes about 45 days. I did a remodel with addition (including ground disturbance, thus full site plan and tree plan, but no demolition permit) and my total process was 30 days and 5 trips from the time I submitted my completed permit application. Supposedly the process takes 14 days (10 business), and I have been told permit expediters around here can get it done in that time frame, but I have yet to meet anyone who can vouch for this.

J,

When you say you had to use an architect, was that by choice or did the City require it? I ask, because I am doing a complete remodel with an addition of a second story in City and I did not have to use an architect. (I used a licensed engineer, but was told specifically by an agent at the permit office that I did not need to. Which could mean anything really. I have gotten a lot of conflicting information depending on who you talk to/what department you ask at the City.)

Also, when you say you are planning on more new builds are you planning more builds ITP? While the houses are selling fast in good sub markets and for a good margin, lots are hard to come by and dealing with the City of Atlanta is kind of a chore. That has been my conclusion anyway, curious to hear your thoughts.

I am not very familiar with the market in the West End, having said that, after taking a cursory look at the solds since 1/1/2013 I am not very encouraged. First, there are not many comps north of 100k and there are precious few >150k. To make matters worse the DOM are really high for the few properties that will be comps for you. Just my opinion.

If you contrast this with other ITP sub-market activity sine 1/1/2013, well done rehabs have extremely low DOM with many seeing multiple offers, selling above list, or selling before completion. Areas I am referring to are Grant/Ormewood Park, EAV, Kirkwood, Decatur (City) and to a lesser extent Reynoldstown and Edgewood.

I am interested to hear how your project goes. The way the aforementioned markets have been behaving has made me wonder if buyers will begin to branch into less established area ITP in search of sub 200k rehabbed 3/2's.

What is customary depends on your application and personal taste. You can install any type of hardwood over concrete that you can install on wood; however, nail down hardwood requires that you attach a nailing surface to the concrete which increases your cost. Additionally, nail down hardwood floors are more expensive than glue down or laminate flooring. Furthermore, sand and finish (unfinished) hardwoods are the most expensive subset of nail down.

Economically speaking you really only have two choices. Glue down engineered boards, or laminate flooring. The latter is more durable and installed in as a floating floor. Generally a moisture barrier is laid on top of the slab and the laminate boards interlock together on top of the barrier. Glue down engineered flooring looks more like traditional hardwood flooring imo, but will not handle the abuse laminate flooring will. Also, if your slab is uneven or the floors are installed improperly (using cheap glue is a major no no) then glue down floors will eventually loosen from the slab and will cause a popping sound when people walk across them. This is not particularly cheap to fix, and nearly impossible to match the existing boards especially in areas that receive a lot of sunlight.

Cliffnotes tldr; laminate for buy and hold, glue down for resale imo.

In an area I buy in there is a retired couple who buy and remodel historic homes. They do not do many, maybe one and half a year or so, but the ones they do sell go for an enormous premium on a per square foot basis. Now I am just shooting from the hip here, but when I say premium I am talking 150-200 percent of the top of the market rate. Having said that, just glancing at a few of their deals their hold times were really long, and their finished were not cheap to say the least.

The point is, the decision to buy a home, particularly a historic home or a luxury home, is often times dictated as much by emotion as it is logic. If I were you, and the home truly has some unique features that you fell like will appeal to a specific subset of the market I would shoot for the moon. You can always lower the price, but you can rarely raise it imo.

FWIW I am not advocating buying unique properties and then relying on them fetching a drastically above market rate, rather make a deal that will work at market and if the opportunity presents itself swing for the fences I say.

I actually rode by this house earlier this week and again today, meaning to stop both times. That list price is top of the market for the area IMO, for a 2/2 that is, and I am glad to hear you are getting offers this aggressively. Did you offer any incentive to the buyers agent or anything like that?

Funny thing, I almost sent both of these homeowners letters a year or so ago, but decided to stick to the DeKalb County side of Moreland. When I opened the thread I instantly recognized the Heart Attack house. I also sold a wholesale flip in the same purchase price range not a few hundred yards from these two houses earlier this year.

If you are interested lunch is on my dime next week; I am currently in negotiation for a 3/2 gut rehab not far from here and would love to talk about the ITP market with you.

The combined MSA's of Phoenix and Atlanta have something around 10 million people; I am curious as to why you feel neither one of these markets, or a combination of the two, is not adequate to provide the additional deals you seek.