All Forum Posts by: Chris Martin

Quote from @Issa Santos:

So what kind of zoning to look for that could be used for development or what potential zoning that could be rezone? It seems the potential of the land would be greatly affected by the zoning since it would determine what can be done with the land right? 

Quote from @Chris Martin:

Quote from @Issa Santos:

How would I go about finding land with potential development like you have? 

Newbie here looking to get started. I’m in Tampa FLORIDA. 

Thanks!!

Quote from @Chris Martin:

@Keegan Fraker if you are interested in building in Hallsboro, I would like to discuss building SF or duplexes with you. I have 85+ acres available along two road fronts (900'-1000' on both roads) including 214 that parallels 74. It's about 5 miles to downtown of largest city and capital of Columbus county, NC. Also have land in Nakina and hope soon to have acreage (7 to 35+) in Robeson, Martin, and Pitt counties. The game as I see it is inexpensive "spot" duplexes held for ~7 years window vs. manufactured homes, capitalizing on low (distributed) capital costs for land/land improvements/foundation/permits and cheap 7 year call commercial capital. Pitt county is quantity 1 or 2, Martin 3-10 (depends on perc), and Columbus potentially ~12 duplex units... possibly much more but I'm not looking to plat a subdivision at this time, just carve out 1/2 acre lots on perced road frontage (the rest is destined for current use: NC forestry service exempted loblolly pine plantation)... unless of course there is compelling reason to develop.

This is an old post. I bought those parcels straight from MLS, when land prices were quite a bit lower than now. I ended up buying an 18-unit apartment instead of developing some of these parcels. One is currently for sale. I also built a small (500kW) solar farm in Columbus County on one parcel since that post. 

Finding the land is not that complicated. The hard part is figuring out what you want to do and where to do it. I don't know if what I did in NC, which is basically small-scale land use conversion, would work in Tampa. Perhaps in-fill projects would be more appropriate there. IDK. 

Yes, your development project must follow the county zoning requirements. If you are building a duplex, then the lot/parcel must have zoning that supports duplexes. Generally, your county zoning/planning office, through the published ordinances, will have a matrix showing what is allowed and what isn't. Some development projects, like a solar farm, will also require a Special Use Permit in addition to the zoning requirements. The real question you need to ask yourself is 'what development do you want to do and where do you want to do it?' Once you do that, then start thinking about finding a lot/parcel. 

Quote from @Issa Santos:

How would I go about finding land with potential development like you have? 

Newbie here looking to get started. I’m in Tampa FLORIDA. 

Thanks!!

Quote from @Chris Martin:

@Keegan Fraker if you are interested in building in Hallsboro, I would like to discuss building SF or duplexes with you. I have 85+ acres available along two road fronts (900'-1000' on both roads) including 214 that parallels 74. It's about 5 miles to downtown of largest city and capital of Columbus county, NC. Also have land in Nakina and hope soon to have acreage (7 to 35+) in Robeson, Martin, and Pitt counties. The game as I see it is inexpensive "spot" duplexes held for ~7 years window vs. manufactured homes, capitalizing on low (distributed) capital costs for land/land improvements/foundation/permits and cheap 7 year call commercial capital. Pitt county is quantity 1 or 2, Martin 3-10 (depends on perc), and Columbus potentially ~12 duplex units... possibly much more but I'm not looking to plat a subdivision at this time, just carve out 1/2 acre lots on perced road frontage (the rest is destined for current use: NC forestry service exempted loblolly pine plantation)... unless of course there is compelling reason to develop.

This is an old post. I bought those parcels straight from MLS, when land prices were quite a bit lower than now. I ended up buying an 18-unit apartment instead of developing some of these parcels. One is currently for sale. I also built a small (500kW) solar farm in Columbus County on one parcel since that post. 

Finding the land is not that complicated. The hard part is figuring out what you want to do and where to do it. I don't know if what I did in NC, which is basically small-scale land use conversion, would work in Tampa. Perhaps in-fill projects would be more appropriate there. IDK. 

Quote from @Kyle Holden:

*I guess I have two BP accounts - posting again from correct account*

Thanks Ben! I’ll look up Derek.

The goal for building has always been CF but when trying to finance, not being able to get what I’d consider proper equity value can be frustrating.

We got quotes form several builders - $195-225k before fixtures and furnishings (so assume $220-250k all in) - for a 430 sqft ADU above a 430 sqft garage

Well, at $512 to $581 cost per square foot I would think that kind of improvement would not add comparable equity. I am not surprised a traditional lender would not be interested. 

ADUs make sense in some places, but the more I learn, the less I feel they are appropriate when considering the total cost/reward analysis. 

As stated by others, get multiple bids and compare apples to apples. 

One other comment I'll make: don't compare Raleigh to San Jose or other jurisdictions because the ordinances and rules are not the same. I've been helping a family member with sale of a SJ property (house and sub-divided lot), and it is night and day. SJ has 0' setbacks on urban zoning (e.g. CP zoning) and per my relative's email, "The new urban zoning designations also allow for no setbacks, no driveway, and no parking...." My view is that these changes represent more than valuation today, more like what will urban residential look like in 10 years. 

Quote from @Jimmy Rojas:

Quote from @Chris Martin:

If it exists, a mortgage or deed of trust will be recorded in public record at the county courthouse. So, yes, it is public information that a person has a mortgage. Just search your county records via the register of deeds. For Phoenix, just google phoenix arizona registry of deeds and click on Maricopa County Recorder and Elections Department, then select Search Recorded Documents under the "Recorder" tab. Then you can search for documents. 

Thanks for the info but it seems you cant view docs or deed , you have to pay. I remember a while ago i searched for parcels and their deeds and it was free you could see a copy image of the deed.

Did you try the "View Unofficial Documents by clicking the number above" link? I was able to see a (random) deed from 1983 on my first try. I don't know if that would always work, but it seemed to for me. 

Quote from @Pixel Rogue:

Quote from @Chris Martin:

@Pixel Rogue I went down a different investment path, leveraging Form 3800 ITC (Investment Tax Credit) favored development. The ITC numbers, basically, provide in year one 30% ITC and the accelerated bonus depreciation deduction provides a roughly 70% equipment write-off. For instance, a $400,000 investment (excluding land and other non-contributing expenses) in a solar farm (probably works for wind farms too but I'm not in that space) allows for $120,000 for the ITC General tax credit and $280,000 loss via bonus depreciation. These carry-forward if not used. For any given year, electricity production is taxable, but I offset that income with the bonus depreciation loss carry-forward and ITC carry-forward for 20 years. 

New rules, apparently, under the iRA (Inflation Reduction Act) will allow developers to sell Renewable Energy Tax Credits to other taxpayers. Historically I've kept all ITCs for myself (I am selfish) but that may change if I start doing more development. 

Just a thought.

I appreciate this mention and would like to learn more. Are there funds, eft's etc. for said ITC, or does one need to be in the trades or developer to participate? 

You can learn more by google search of ITC tax equity partnership. This NextEra Energy document provides some details of the tax structures and provides examples for solar and wind projects. 

In my case, I was the property owner, designer, developer, and investor, so my 50% partner company and my company (the other 50% owner) retained all the benefits equally. So certainly the developer can participate. Note that most projects are not structured like mine. 

I am not aware of any people in the trades retaining any equity or ITC benefits on any solar projects. Like in rental real estate, they perform a service (e.g. for rentals, HVAC installation/repair; for solar farms, panel installation, wiring, etc.) and expect to get paid for the labor/materials/service.

The following are just examples. I have not worked with them on projects that I did not have ownership interest. This company, Patriot Renewable Energy Capital, is looking for projects to fund, and they may be worth talking to? I know the founder of NextGrid, and they have a web page dedicated to investors and may provide structured investments to capitalize on solar ITC projects. 

I hope that helps. 

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

A guy told me today in a REIA meeting that if a HCV/Section 8 tenant doesn't pay and you evict, that the voucher provider would continue to pay the agreed rent through the end of the lease term. I can't imagine that is true, but maybe I am wrong.

It's been so long since I've had voucher payments I just don't remember anything like that.

If you are a HCV/Section owner, are you still seeing provider cover 100% of the rent or most tenants getting vouchers for 100% of the rent, or what percentage of your inquiries require the tenant to work/have income and pay some portion of the rent?

A lot of the answers depend on the Housing Authority (HA) in question. I've worked with Raleigh (RHA) and Wake County (HA of the County of Wake) and neither of these HAs would pay post eviction, but luckily I only had to evict one RHA tenant (me as plaintiff) in my 44 career-long evictions.

In my area, HA wait lists are really long, so tenants take their responsibilities very seriously. In my whole career, I only had one S-8 tenant who paid nothing in tenant co-pay rent. My average S-8 tenant paid between 20% and 50%, and I had one HACW tenant who progressed off the S-8 program. In my mind, this represented a true success story for the S-8 system. Carol Hall was a great tenant and is a greater person. I hope she is doing well. 

You should be able to get an ADU development loan from companies like Lending One. Your free-and-clear property would be the collateral and the loan would be in the form of a construction loan. You'll have to have the preliminaries, like permits and a builder lined up, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get a project like an ADU financed for a F&C property. 

@Candace Lawson Get the county datasets from the county IT department. They can provide formatted data, generally in CSV or text (some counties have XLS or XLSX formats) that you can then sort and get what you are looking for. I invested in Wake County NC and the county provides data files where I do exactly what you are doing. 

@Pixel Rogue I went down a different investment path, leveraging Form 3800 ITC (Investment Tax Credit) favored development. The ITC numbers, basically, provide in year one 30% ITC and the accelerated bonus depreciation deduction provides a roughly 70% equipment write-off. For instance, a $400,000 investment (excluding land and other non-contributing expenses) in a solar farm (probably works for wind farms too but I'm not in that space) allows for $120,000 for the ITC General tax credit and $280,000 loss via bonus depreciation. These carry-forward if not used. For any given year, electricity production is taxable, but I offset that income with the bonus depreciation loss carry-forward and ITC carry-forward for 20 years. 

New rules, apparently, under the iRA (Inflation Reduction Act) will allow developers to sell Renewable Energy Tax Credits to other taxpayers. Historically I've kept all ITCs for myself (I am selfish) but that may change if I start doing more development. 

Just a thought.

Quote from @Peter Vekselman:

In the 2 decades that I have been in real estate there were times when I bought many deals via real estate agents and MLS.

Iam a Fix and Flip investor. Meaning I need deals that have minimum 30% equity. I have not bought a deal from MLS in a few years. In my opinion that channel no longer exists and there are no equity deals to be had. It is literally like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Not worth it...

Agree or disagree?

That's the thing about real estate cycles. Sometimes there is a lot of supply and little demand, like the years after the Great Recession, and sometimes there is a lot of demand and limited (affordable) supply like now. I believe patience pays off, so like you I don't participate in what doesn't work or is a waste of time. I guess I'd call it a 'pivot' when I built my first (commercial) solar farm. Still 'real estate' but not really a rental. As an optimist, I say it all works out in the end.