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Boner

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  1. I have a good one for you guys! My home is on an 33 acre property, and in the county. However, the city has surrounded me over the years. We have a 20 acre law that states I cannot be annexed if I keep more than 20 acres. This gives me the right to hunt, shoot guns, burn stuff, and more. A few years ago, I sold some adjoining land for commercial use. It ended up becoming a private grade school. From what I can gather, it is illegal to posses a gun within 1000' of a school. The only exception is if the adjoining property is your own property. The grey area is actually shooting a gun. I've heard opinions that it is ok. I have also heard of gun clubs that have indoor ranges being ok, as long as the member unloads and locks the gun in a case between the door and the car. However, my attorney said that people have been arrested for defending their life in their own home when the home is in a Gun Free Zone. My view is that state law will have no problem with a property owner shooting legally, yet the federal law that established the gun free zone may be different. One of the big questions is what school is federally recognized as a school? Kind of an interesting question. Any thoughts? I do have areas of property that are 1000'+ away, but I would be required at that point to be shooting the opposite direction (towards the neighbors). Also, it is not clear if the 1000' is from the buildings, or the edge of the property.
  2. I figured I would give everyone an update on my first real "development" project. The first huge problem is the insane amount of money the fire department puts on the project. First of all, they require a 32' wide road that is 6" thick. This makes a road that is 250' long cost $155k. They also require a hydrant every 500'. Just an 8' waterline extension and a hydrant ranges from $8-12k! The city will finance specials for the road, sidewalk, hydrant, water, and sewer for 20 years at 2-4%. The problems are: -their requirements are high -they would own the roads -and the kicker....there are 35% of various flat fees they charge that are bogus. For example, to inspect the street construction, they charge $15k for a 250' street! In total, my special fees would be $266k and cost $270 per month for each rental home. I feel this is too high to justify the project. Most developers try to keep this from $100-150 per month. The area Im in is struggling with growing too fast and disregarding the importance of the costs of taxes. I assume this is why they have a 5 year tax abatement on new homes. We see that many homes are going on the market after 5 years. The owners see the reality of the specials. I am changing the layout and doing this in phases now. I am going to redesign it so that I dont need water and sewer main extensions in the first phase. I will only be building half the number of homes per acre (t0 start), but that eliminates $110k of utility specials per acre. Also, I am going to do a private road. This will allow me to change my road widths and curb design. Furthermore, going private allows me eliminate the useless 35% city fees on the $266k. I know I can get $1200 per month for each home. I think I may be able to get $1400. But I hate to get started on a project and make it too tight. Going in phases will hopefully make it more appealing for me. Also, I can test the rent market on this type of design.
  3. Yes, we are fucked. I've never seen such high costs with such high deductibles. You have to remember that we are paying for a massive group of people who are not only high risk, but aren't paying for their life. I'm sure we will end up with what is the equivalent of Medicare. It's horrible. It's price is not based on health risks. It's based on your income. It's also only a benefit you get from 65 to death, yet you pay in your entire life (unless you are "disabled"). Lastley, they don't cover MANY things. I just had a Medicare patient who needed 4 injections for an autoimmune disease. The out of pocket was $800 per shot. She spent $3200 on a limited budget. No offense to anyone, but this is a huge problem. The hospital is the most expensive part of health care. It's not a coincidence. It's because the ER is literally a free clinic. You are paying for a magnitude of non-paying people. This will be a touchy statement, but it's well known in my area that a majority of this is illegal immigrants. I think we need to consider getting rid of health insurance requirements and have immigration reform soon or the system will collapse.
  4. I would do as many as possible per acre. Waiting to talk to the guys who do site plans. I can get a variance to put them 2' apart. Enough to mow between. The reason for this style is that every single rental is a ranch with no style. Flat roofs. Ugly siding and trim. I want to change the scenery and rent to people who think like me :-)
  5. I would love to do them all at once, but I don't know if my bank will allow me :-) I'm just starting out and only have a few hundred thousand in equity. I've heard you say a couple times that a person never has enough time to save and that banks are needed. I agree. I just wonder how most people get that first big one through? Luck and timing? Equity with age? I'll def PM you once I talk to the city manager and get a final number. I appreciate your help!
  6. I think I should be able to do 3 per acre and they would cost $100k each. There are 4 usable acres. The demand is huge. It is the fastest growing area in our city of 500,000. The wild card is the utilities. I figured there were some tricks to the trade on getting those done most cost effectively with the city. I will talk with the city manager soon and see what he says ;-) Neighborhood specials are one thing, as the home owner pay them over 20 years. This is a little different because I would have to cover them in rent.
  7. Well, I figured I would give an update since Ive enjoyed this thread. a few months ago I scored a 2 acre corner lot. It is currently zoned so the taxes are $5 per year. It will be commercial use, so I should be able to make good money on it. I just signed a contract to purchase the land on the west side of this corner. The owner has agreed to sell it in stages so that I dont get hit with large utility fees. Sewer and water are based on sq ft. of the lot. Once I develop this, I think the commercial demand on the corner will bump up. I could use some advice from those who have done this. Im concerned about the cost of the roads and sidewalks. I meet with the city manager soon to discuss this. It sounds like they are paid by the city and then placed as 20 year specials. But, the city has 5 years property tax abatement on the city portion of the taxes. Does anyone have advice on this? I guess what I mean, is there any approach youve heard that helps with the costs? Or, maybe something that looks good and contains costs? it seems the roads are where most developers go under in this area. The plus side is that the price of land is almost nothing and I am VERY lucky. Our city is architecturally boring and I want to make people think outside of the box. What I think I will end up doing is a Shotgun style home. It will be narrow and tall. Steep roof line. Granite counter tops and custom showers. Around 1500 sq ft with a loft. I should be able to get $1200 a month here. Im new, so I think I want to build one, occupy, build 2, then 4....sort of expand exponentially. Any ideas or advice appreciated (Fortis). :-)
  8. Figured I would give a final outcome on the deal, just because I think its funny. I kindly told him I would pay for my portion if they pulled me a spare line in AND the final quote was in writing. I noticed the locate services were flagging utilities, so I assumed he hired someone yet I had no contract. Nothing. I called him and asked him about it. And yes...he hired it out and wasnt pulling spares in. He also didnt show me a contract with a set price. I had the director of public works (I know him) call the boring company to find out what was happening and they said they would be able to pull his lines in without affecting me. Nevertheless, someone failed to tell me I didnt need to pay. I dont have a problem paying what is due, but this is an example of why you cant really trust people. The kicker is that I saw the lines today. They are 1.5" flex pipe inside of a solid 4" PVC sleeve! Massive amounts of space! The run was only 200' and only had one 90 degree at then end. The idiots could have easily pulled a new pipe in. There are tons of creative ways to do this. Oh well...Its not my money...but could have been...
  9. We are not partners. We own separate properties. The only thing we share is lawn maintenance. That is why this is kind of an weird deal. Im being asked to share an expense that really has little to do with me. $1 or $1000, I am not going to pay just because I was asked. I wish I could buy the entire building, but he wont sell it. He has his practice in it. He would be renting from me, which would be even worse. I also dont want to move mine. I wouldn't be surprised if I do own the entire building by default at some point. When I purchased my portion from him, he owed $150l of back taxes. Just a total mismanagement of everything. Im the complete opposite.
  10. The original line should have lasted "forever". It is only 8 years old! The ground was very dry for 2 years and we have been having earthquakes here. They think that is what did it. The unions that broke were not supposed to be there for that reason. The building is actually great. I have my clinic in part of it, so I am there to stay until I get out of healthcare. The other parts are rented out. Once I am done I will rent my section out. Who knows, maybe I will own the entire thing one day. He is a veterinarian and does well, but mismanages things. He has a pretty large clinic on his end. We also have a large dentist and some other things there. I want to hang onto it because corner lots on the same road go for $850k per acre with no building. I am lucky in that regard.
  11. Thanks for the good advice. I know what I should do now.
  12. I will admit a couple of things. If I were in his shoes I would not ask for anything. As far as common area maintenance goes, we pay for it and he pays us back. He is notorious for not paying bills. It took me 3 years to get my last payment for common area maintenance. I should probably do the more positive thing. I try when I can. I should also force the plumber to pull a spare through with my name written on it.
  13. I figured I would ask all of you "what you would do?". Sort of an odd deal. I have a commercial building. There is a property line through it. I own 3 units and the other owner (a relative) owns 7 units. Long story, but he needed a bail out a few years ago. He wanted a partnership and I thought a property line was more appropriate for several reasons. We share exterior maintenance of the building. I pay 30% and he pays 70%. This applies to mowing, the sign, and the well. The building has 3 water meters / services. One is solely mine. 2 are solely his. About 2 years ago, he had a leak in one of his mains under the parking lot. So, he kicked the can down the road and joined the bad line to his good line. At that point, he was down to 1 line for his entire portion. About a month ago his only line also broke down. He has allowed it to leak BADLY for over a month now. Water is running from the parking lot. All 3 lines come to the same 6" spot in the building, and then distribute from there. The boring company said it would cost him $4500 to repair it and they would only do the job if they replaced mine too. They believe that they will destroy mine in the boring process because they are so tight. My water service is working just fine. His lines were scoped and it turns out that there is a union under the parking lot that has cracked. This is fine with code, but is just a bad idea. The plumber thought the builder ran out of flex pipe and used a union instead of running a new solid line. Crazy this happened on a $1.5 million building! There is a chance that my line is solid all the way and will never break. There is a chance it will break in the future. From my viewpoint, I dont have a problem and dont want to pay a dime. Instead of pulling $100 of flex pipe through with the rest of the piping, they have caused the other owner to eat the full cost of 3 replacement lines....and now he wants me to pay for 1/3 of ieverything. The question....what would you do? I may be bad, but I want to tell everyone to fcuk off ;-)
  14. Thanks for the help! I'll pass that on. It sounds like I may need to wait 3 months for my trademark to process. As far as copyright goes, I don't think I can do one on my stuff. Design patent is possible. I wonder if the listing can be composed of an image that is copyrighted?
  15. They have 100% cloned his product. He has even bought one as proof. Also, they automatically adjust their price if he changes his. It is crazy! He has at least 600 positive ratings on his product and the clone has 70 already. I probably shouldnt post what the product is, because I dont want to step on his toes. My main issue is that I have a few products I want to release soon and I am worried about the same issue. I did apply for a trademark, and I am working on the design patent. If you have these, I think Amazon will at least back you up. They really need to ban the IP address of sellers who do this crap. I dont know what to expect out of all of this. My stuff is already in motion and my plastic injection tooling is complete. I hope I am not wasting money. I guess I will have to ride the train until the wheels fall off.
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