Quote from @Devin James: In one of our development projects, the City staff asked us to remove 40 units from our concept plan.This wasn’t requested by the City Commission at a formal hearing, it was the opinion of the staff.Our original concept already proposed fewer units than the current zoning would have allowed.Here’s what erasing 40 units means:- 40 fewer homes for buyers- Over $1M in lost profit for our team- Fewer tax dollars and impact fees that could’ve benefited the City’s infrastructure & servicesWe gotta get betterEveryone wants more affordable housing, but not everyone wants to do what it takes to achieve it we never listen to the recommending bodies. we move for city approvals and work closely. the other thing we do is keep going back to the same groups over and over and over and over every month on the same agenda and make very small reductions like 2% or 4% and that reduces and beats them down eventually they accept what you want. it's just before beating a dead horse. we keep tabling until they give us something we all agree on then we go to vote. in our city in columbus we have to get recommendations but that's our strategy. we used to come out as aggressive as possible. we typically study developments in the area and keep it very similar in terms of density. we have a track record of very controversial projects and litigation and not taking no as an answer. after a year of that haha I can tell you it's not worth it. now we are more relationship based and buying the right kinds of plots of land. if the numbers don't work on the front end don't do the development. 

We plan to stay in this house for more than 5 years unless another great opportunity arises, but maybe it is best to allocate a bigger portion of savings to our real estate investment savings account than our home improvement savings account for the first few years.

@Dhruv Patel I believe you are getting ahead of yourself....Where in the US are you all-in (land acquisition, soft costs, hard construction) on new construction multi-family for $100/ft.

But in the meanwhile, I have come across a land in an up and coming CT market which is already approved for under 10 units.

Sacramento is decidedly NOT the land of GSW!

Or maybe even the "Commercial Real Estate" forum.  

In today's competitive real estate market, having modern amenities can set your property apart, making it more attractive to a wider audience.

I'm now considering expanding my real estate ventures into building custom homes, but I know this is an entirely different beast between the required capital, learning curve, time committment, etc. 

OTM = General, overhead/widescreen view of nationwide market tends.BPRE = Detailed ways specific people are making money in real estate.

IE rent to a tenant for >12 mo,  dating before marriage, no late payments then with a down paymetn (long story here)  I'll sell on either a contract for deed (typically mobile homes on land) or a note and mortgage (regular nicer houses).