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Tag: land development

Analyzing Housing Markets: Hot Spots for High Income Homes

There are all kinds of information and data that you can use when evaluating housing markets for homebuilding and real estate purposes. A Washington Post article from a few years ago provides some interesting insight about where the highest earning citizens live in our country. Not surprisingly, this article was noting that many live in the DC area. Of note is that the article included a color-coded, searchable map of the US based on counties. US Map Shows Wealthiest Counties As an investment and housing market research tool, you can view this US Map tool to quickly identify the wealthiest US Counties based on Census…

Subdividing Land: Tips for Landowners from a Developer (Part 1 – Evaluate)

Learn to evaluate the risks and rewards of subdividing land into residential lots. In this first of three articles on the subject, a developer and real estate lawyer provides landowners specific items to evaluate when considering whether or not to subdivide land. Come back for the next articles in this series that provide insights for landowners based on the author’s real world experiences with the subdivision process, as well as a hands-on description of the steps landowners should take when subdividing land. Why Subdivide My Land? Sub·di·vide (v.): to divide into several parts; especially: to divide (a tract of land) into building…

Lots and Land Development: How do you know when the Market is Ready?

Land development tends to be one of the riskiest roles in the housing industry, so for land developers it is important to know that the market is ready for a new project to avoid taking on excessive risk. What are the tools or metrics that land developers can use to analyze housing markets and help them evaluate whether the market is ready for developing land into lots for new home projects? Risks of Land Development Land developers are at the front-end of new home construction. Land developers typically borrow and advance the funds that are needed for them to pay for…

Home Builder Loan Market…Not So Terrible?

Whether it’s houses, land or lots for sale, too many in the real estate industry have seen deals fall apart because of the tight lending market over the past few years. Words to describe the lending market in recent years might include: “terrible”, “non-existent” or “impossible”…making a report of “neutral” something to celebrate. The NAHB recently issued its “Survey on Acquisition, Development & Construction Financing” for the second quarter of 2012, which describes homebuilders’ and developers’ current experiences with the availability of loans for land acquisition, land development and home construction. What can we glean from the survey? Our key…