Software
Does anyone have any suggestions on general real estate development software? I am looking to formalize the project costs for financing and don't know which software package to choose!!
Thanks for any, and all, help.
Sounds like what you are looking for is construction software.
Try Means Company, they have a software package that incorporates all their construction cost data from their annual guides.
They don't have any single family residential for some reason. Anybody know where I could find this data/
If you are talking about true development software, i.e. not home construction but land development like putting in streets, sewer, etc.....there is no such software that I know of. There are programs out there that will help with dirt calculations (calculating cut/fills) but everything else is so regional everyone does it on their own.
If you are wanting home construction software, check out BasicEst by CDCI, Inc. (Construction Data Control). It is a fancy excel template program that you can customize perfectly to your own construction needs. I think they are on the web.
This may be a start
Using the tools available at TCI will save time and money. You can find all kinds of freebies if you look:
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=13
[addsig]
Machuse,
Do you or anyone on your team have experience at multi-family construction? Have you ever done any renovation or condo conversions? Being in the Atlanta market myself I can tell you that the condo conversion market is very competative right now with a lot of really big players involved that have years and years of acquisition, development, and construction experience under their belt. It is no easy thing to find a site that has the right zoning to allow apartments and/or condos, an existing building that is suitable to do the rehab on, get accurate rehab numbers, etc. etc. Basically what you are proposing to do is one of the harder and more complicated projects and to do it as your very first project. I am not saying it is impossible but it is extremely difficult and complex even for people that have years of experience. There is a lot more to it than just finding an attorney that can draft a condominium association document!
As far as costs, it is almost impossible to really give accurate numbers as it will entirely depend upon the condition of the building, required site work, etc. Legal concerns would be mitigating your liability, setting up the property as condos if you want to do that, and of course the purchase contracts. There are a couple of firms in the ATL area that specialize in developer services and you could start there. I will tell you though, to be honest, they will want you to know what you are doing prior to coming to see them. Just remember that no matter what atty, engineer, or contractor you hire, you should always be driving the train and not them.
You may be interested in looking @ this project in the ATL area that has one quite a few awards for it's new urbanism concepts:
http://www.glenwoodpark.com/
thanks woodsong for the responce....this is really discouraging info. Is their any work around, any way we can gain the info we need. in a short period of time, even if we have to learn some while we go?
My uncle is really supportive of my actions and he is a civil engineer by training, and recently got a construction managment licences....but he lives in maryland (where i also live) if he were to help how much would he have to be ONSITE?
Are you saying we need more practical knowledge of whats going on...or just technical understanding of the process
Where could this information be obtained?.... are their any case studies that could illustrate better what information we are lacking
just out of curiousity would you woodsong have the understanding to complete a task, or would the knowledge require many, highly skilled guiding memebers?
Well,
I certainly don't want to discourage you! I would suggest if you want to move forward to start looking around at prospective buildings that may be on the market. If they are not on the market then find out who owns them and contact them. I would also begin to study the zoning regulations for the city (assuming you are inside the city of Atlanta limits) so that you will know what allowed uses are in what zoning district. One thing you may want to note is that the permitting and approval process for the incorporated portions of Atlanta is a bear and very, very time consuming. They are the worst gov't to deal with in the metro area by far.
I would also begin talking to some banks that do commercial lending to get an idea of what they want and what they will require. You will most likely learn a lot by the discussions with the banks as they have set up a definite process and requirements to get the funding.
As far as case studies, look through the sunday homefinder and you will see many, many loft conversion adds. Go check them out and start talking to the people that are doing them. I personally am not in the loft conversion market. We do, in several of our new communities, build retail space with residential lofts above, but that is new construction and not a conversion like you are wanting to do. I could pull the people together to do a conversion and I have a couple of developer friends that actively are doing this as I speak so I have the resources there if I needed it.
Don't give up, but temper everything with the knowledge that it is going to be a complicated process. On the other hand, if you truly are only going to rent them out as apartments, your legal work will be lessened since you don't have to set up a condominium association.