In case you don't know this is my new diary called Rockin Hills. Yes, you get to follow me along through this oddessy called Real Estate Investing. I wouldn't dare log everything I've done or do in real estate investing but this oneshould teach us all a lesson. Hey, you watch it on TV for30 minutes and now you get to live each day with all of it's pain and joy!
It's 4:40PM here and a nice weather day. I went out to Rockin Hills to walk the construction site and discovered it to be the perfect challenge: Buildable but not without a little more than normal site work. Site work is exactly what it sounds like it should be - getting the site ready for the construction.
Site work includes removing selected trees, controlling water run-off and drainage, removing or bringing in soil (dirt here in the south), constructing any retaining walls, etc. This one needs site work! There are 2 plots side by side. Road frontage is 151.5' (The single apostrophe ' means FEET and a double apostrophe " means INCHES). Road frontage is simply how much of the property is bordered by a road or street.
The back side of the property is 260' wide and they share a 150' line down the center with each outside boundary being approximately 159' in depth. If you ever buy raw land you'll need to know how to tell these things. Lot 13 is several hundred square feet larger than lot 12 but needs more site work in order to be buildable.
The elevation drop from the street center to the front boundary is less than 2'. The elevation drop from the street center to the center of lot 13 is approximately 16'. That's quite a drop. Most 2 story homes are 16' from the foundation to the eaves. That means all you would be able to see of this house if it were constructed at the front setback line would be the roof and the chimneys!
We have three basic choices that we are considering for positioning the house box on the build site:
(1) Building on a full basement on top of an 8' dirt fill sloping to the center of the property or held by a retaining wall.
(2) Moving the house box to the back of the build site and building on the level ground which would require appoximately 80' of driveway.
(3) Building on a full basement at the rear of the build site and filling the entire build site with 10' of dirt or roughly 7000 cubic yards. About 470 dump truck loads ... not going to happen! That would be about $80,000 worth of dirt alone.
As of today I'm leaning toward option one which would require about 50 dump trucks of dirt and a retaining wall. Either way, if we go forward with the project, it's going to be a challenge!
My AD&C loan (aquisition, development and construction) is already approved up to $400,000. Nothing out of pocket to acquire the land or handle the construction. Closing costs rolled back in and prime plus one on the drawdowns.
What are the goals?
To construct two homes with complete costs being under $320,000 and to net, walk away after taxes with, $60,000. This, too, will be a challenge! These are infill homes in a subdivision completed in 1964. High sales in the subdivision are $150,000 for a 3/2 built in 1964 with 980 square feet.
We're building a 3/2 roughly 1450 square feet heated plus a 2 car garage and large porch and pricing them at $219,000
Follow along if you dare! This is real estate investment at it's finest.
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