All Forum Posts by: Steve K

The market here is pretty good as far as a battered market and deals are concerned but i'd actually to prefer living somewhere else where new construction is occurring and will continue to occur.

I'd like to live in Austin again and might pursue that in 3-5 years.

It's been a little while since we've built anything new given the state of the local market, but semi custom can be done here at about $90 per foot under air.

That number included block construction, custom cabinets, tile and wood flooring, granite in kitchens and baths, nice appliances, paver patio / driveways, double crown molding, etc etc.

At your $125-140 numbers you could really add some high end features.

My goal is true self employment. Although I've owned my own companies for the past ten years when you have customers you aren't truly self employed. I'd like to remove the customer from the equation.

Not quite sure exactly how this is going to be accomplished. Some of it will be through non performing notes, some will be flips, and i'd like to add some more rentals to the mix.

The market is definitely coming for zero energy homes. At this point it's certainly more of a "when" then an "if". Once new construction starts to pick up again we'll begin to see prices on the green items fall significantly. For the average homeowner who is thinking in 30 year mortgage terms these upgrades will be a no brainer.

On the PV topic it's a pretty area specific product that can make paybacks very viable even in today's market. Some states have mandated renewable portfolio standards and have enacted SREC programs which can help end users achieve a quicker payback on their systems ( these can and will fluctuate ). Combine the federal tax credits, state tax credits, state incentives, potential utility incentives, and a high cost of power and you might just find that your investment pays back pretty quickly. You can find out available incentives at www.dsireusa.org

Personally I think investing in small to mid sized solar farms as a cash flow model is excellent and superior to real estate in many ways. There are a lot of challenges in that market right now with tax laws and severe lack of bank debt but those challenges will decrease in time.

$100 psf is probably pretty reasonable.

PV might push that figure a bit higher ( figure $4-5 per kw installed ). Agree with above comments that solar water heating is a good low cost way to provide a significant impact to electric bills.

Thanks for your input Nathan. Agree with everything you added. Doing the flips shouldn't be an issue for me as i've got plenty of experience in this regard, but finding deals and juggling cash will certainly be a challenge.

I'll go ahead and modify or cross post this over in the flippers forum.

Hi all – sort of an intro and my own getting started plan. I apologize for the length

I’m looking to get into the rehab and flip business and was hoping some of you could point me in the right direction and let me know if my expectations are realistic or completely out of whack. My first year goal is to flip 5-7 houses with and end up with a net profit of $100k or greater. Does this seem overly or ( under ) ambitious?

I have about $100k cash I can dedicate to this to start and I could take another $150-200k line against a paid off rental that I have, although I’d like to develop a relationship with a hard money lender for scalability purposes.

I’m a general contractor who has realized that the only time I’ve had a lot of fun as a contractor was when I was developing my own subdivisions and building specs. Once a customer became involved my fun ( and profitability factors ) decreased significantly. The past few years have really magnified that so I’ve decided I would like to only work on my own terms and ideally on my own investments.

I’m located in Orlando which from what I’ve read here seems to be a cesspool although it also appears to have a lot of activity and presumably a lot of competition.

It seems like unless you have access to an asset manager then you just need to move quickly on REO properties with few or no contingencies to get deals that pencil out to profitable rehabs? Any other gems on where to find some good purchases?

Forgot to add that I'm getting my real estate license so I can get my own access to MLS for listing and recon purposes.
If anyone has any suggestions to help me hone my plan I’m all ears. Thanks in advance.