In my market, I am buying so far under the cost of construction that the local builders can't compete.

My fun is in rehabbing properties - so far I've only held as rentals but would like to be able to acquire some properties that would make good flips as well.I have a background in construction and my brother is a general contractor - so I get some pretty good deals on vendors and materials (most of his vendors do work for high end home builders as well).For the last 10 years, I've also had my TX RE sales license but have not done too many deals utilizing it.

My thought, or hope, is that if the area is composed of good construction and a good location (by location I mean proximity to down town or some other place people need to be at-not locations as in "this is a nice neighborhood")then property prices will at least keep pace with inflation and probably do better if the area is currently depressed (undervalued).I am not going to wait for the profits from my first house to buy my next house.

Mechanical repairs IE Roofs, re-construction, electrical, Plumbing, ETC.3.

Also,you often may notice construction taking place in the area.

I connected with a man who owns a property  management company and his own construction business, a great source for off market and other deals.

I am having a very interesting discussion with some folks I know about the JV versus regulation D private placement construct for capitalizing SFR development deals.

In the economic climate we are in there are way to many parts of the country where you would never get a proper value of your asset in line with construction costs.

The numbers that cannot be disputed - location, legal description, taxes, quoted insurance costs, construction type, occupation status and current rent.

I had no real background in construction (I was a business and comp. sci major with a concentration in econ.) and didn't really know which end of the hammer was useful.