You can't really paint the scenario with one brush - lots of transactions are different.

That doesn't include cost of land or any of the soft costs to get going.

He told me that he learned by watching YouTube and suggested that I do the same (gentle way to brush me off)!

People will always say they know everything, but before I interview them I think it would be helpful to hand them a 10-20 question test to see if they know enough to be worth the time of an interview where I can focus more on personality fit and soft skills than simply technical knowledge.Does anyone have any ideas of questions?

@Alan Grobmeier government regulations make building starter homes in many markets not feasible.Take our market in PDX I am building 23 lots right now.. we pave on Monday.44k per lot to develop them  does not include soft cost of 5k a lot for eng. and permits. so say 50k and they are shovel ready... and this does not include the cost of the dirt .... now building permits are 30k per house.. 

Here is a partial list of what I have:Private Lenders (Hard and Soft Money Lenders)Lendingclub.comLocal banks and Credit UnionsFriends and FamilyCredit CardsBank OverdraftRefi VehiclesHELOCPartnershipsPeople that have recently sold propertiesCoOp's/CrowdfundingAny other ideas would be greatly appericiated?

I assume it is because they overpaid, pay alot for property management, cannot oversee the property management or cleaning crew, cannot meet prospective tenants, and when the market is soft they have the dirtiest properties on the market often for the highest rent....so the property languishes and with no rents the mortgage cannot be kept current.

Ground up construction takes longer to complete and you need an experienced team to help you accomplish you goals - You also need to address soft cost first - survey, engineering report, architectural drawings, demolition permit (asbestos report, pest control report) etc, before you go for the hard cost Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

We have a great team for our MI properties so I've gotten soft.

I haven’t yet contacted the initial plumber because I anticipate they will just brush me off here.