It sounds to me like they just looked at tax value or applied some generic dollar per square foot formula.

My question is, should I use my savings to help pay off the loans or would it be smart to use it to get my foot in the door in real estate?

We're building 2 high end homes side by side right now and due to architect, one home will come in around 10 dollars/ per foot higher build cost than next door.  

One of the big topics I will be looking for on the forums are the issues with "cross border investing" I have been absorbing the podcasts as fast as possible, as there is tones of great info and tips sitting in there.I am sure I will be searching for / posting LOTS of questions to get things off on the right foot!

I mean, I get it, it just seems like experience in what I went to school for (Physics) is difficult to come by unless you already have your foot in the door. 

Unless your in a market like the Bay area were you pay 1.5 mil for the lot and build a nice spec for 200 a foot say 3k feet for 600k  and have 2.1 in it and sell for 2.9  which is common the 15% of project cost work.but if your in a market were lot is 100k   build is 200k and end product say is 350k.. and you pay 30k to the builder that is far to much by double.we hire for flat fee if we are financing the whole job and they are simply acting as GC and have no monetary involvement.  10 to 15k a door. is what we pay.. and if we are so inclined there can be a bonus if we do real well.hope that helps.. careful to tag your jobs to % of gross construction costs you may not like were you end up.

Hi All, would anyone know the following for the Indianapolis market: • Low / Medium / High end rehab costs per square foot?

In the first half of this year, the average price per square foot of Aspen homes dropped 22 percent to $1,095 from $1,338 in 2015.

I installed cheap laminate, less than $1 a foot but you could step up the quality and still be reasonable.

The other houses in the area were built in the 1920's and 30's, all selling for about $50 a square foot.