It shouldn't be any surprise then that the majority of buyers also have pie-in-the-sky notions of what they can afford.

You would be surprised, or maybe not, at the number of requests they receive for lists of various types.  

One surprise for me has been demand for corporate type housing.  

I looked at a mailing list generated for 2 of the zip codes there and was surprised how many homes are owned outright or have been owned by the same person for many years.  

Its very important your run the numbers and make sure you can live with the HOA rule and maybe surprises...

Don't be surprised if they recant their request when things settle a little.  

They won't just give it to you, but if you prove yourself as a good risk, you will be surprised at how easy the money is to find.Knowing that, you are now positioned better with how to start the coversation.  

Surprising you are having such issues in your market.  

Your ARV on that one is going to be about $103k, based upon the last 6-months of comps in the same development.That's a little surprising, since it sold in 2003 at $133k.

How are you going to deal with the unexpected surprises that can come up during a construction project?