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ARK Homes For Rent

ARK Homes For Rent has Laser Focus on Resident Experience By Carole VanSickle Ellis When ARK Homes For Rent founder Jordan Kavana founded the data-driven single-family-residential management company that would eventually evolve into ARK Homes, the idea of SFR as an industry was barely a blip on the industry radar. That company, which prided itself on handling the entire spectrum of property management from research and acquisition to renovations, renting, and resale all in-house, worked with strategic partners to complete more than $5 billion in real estate transactions in the southeastern United States before establishing ARK Homes in 2021. Kavana, who now serves as chairman of the company, continues to guide corporate focus toward the SFR residential experience, debuting innovative products and health and wellness strategies to complement and optimize ARK’s fully integrated management and investment strategy. “Because we are a fully integrated property ownership and management company, we have full control over ARK Homes For Rent’s growth, its resident experiences, and operations,” said CEO John Isakson. “ARK Homes prides itself on being as focused on the residential experience as on the real estate.” “The SFR industry is a small, intimate vertical,” observed COO Miles Adams. “Our willingness to embrace technology, innovation, and continuous improvements makes ARK Homes stand out. We are really proud of our work, especially from a people perspective.” New Homes Net Optimal Results Isakson explained that one of the most important ways ARK Homes For Rent demonstrates commitment to resident experience is the company’s determination to acquire only new construction homes. This keeps repairs and maintenance to a minimum in most cases, he said, as well as helping both ARK Homes and residents avoid the inconvenience and expense associated with the major capital expenditures that often accompany renovation and maintenance (R&M) in older properties. “If you look at our competitors in this space who do acquire older homes, you can see their R&M and CapEx rates are much higher,” Isakson concluded. “Our strategy is unique and so successful partly because we only buy new homes,” Adams chimed in. “This makes our product particularly attractive in the southeast and in Texas.” The Southeast remains a hot spot for new and relatively affordable new construction, permitting more residents access to this type of rental property even if personal preference, interest rates, or general affordability issues prevent them from owning the home. “The rental rates on a new-construction home acquired by ARK Homes For Rent are also typically significantly less than what it would cost a resident to own the same home in the same location,” Isakson noted, citing a recent article in the Wall Street Journal in which two ARK Homes residents described their decision-making process around opting to rent in the Atlanta, Georgia, area instead of buying a home. “They preferred to have that $400 or $500 in their pockets each month rather than own the home,” he continued. “In our resident base, we are seeing a big move away from homeownership and the financial strain that can be associated with it.” In that WSJ article, satisfied ARK Homes resident Alicia Couch described the decision this way: “It is not that we cannot afford to buy; it is that we don’t want to and we don’t feel like it’s worth it.” She said they planned to buy new furniture and repaint their daughter’s bedroom, taken three vacations in the last 12 months, and added to their savings as a result of renting from ARK instead of buying a home. She also noted the benefits of not having to deal with landscaping issues, such as mowing the lawn. “It is all about making sure we have the right properties and we are communicating with residents in the right ways to enrich their lives,” Adams said. “We are constantly expanding and evolving solutions throughout our company.” Prioritizing Health & Wellness in Residents and Residences Another element that makes ARK Homes stand out among other SFR providers is its ARK Homes For Rent app featuring its ARK Living platform, a proprietary software received by every resident upon acceptance of their application. The app features many typical features associated with SFR residential apps, including access to repair and maintenance professionals, pest control, and rent payments. However, ARK Living also contains a popular wellness element Isakson credits as the reason for ARK’s high level of resident engagement. “It is one of the most robust programs in the industry,” he said proudly. The ARK Living app was designed not just to fulfill logistical requirements for residents and management teams, but also to create community and promote wellness, Adams explained. “We do not want to offer just the commodity of a roof and four walls. We want to make sure our residents have access to custom content that will help them with the things they are interested in from a personal perspective, be it better sleep, exercise, meditation, or other elements of their resident experience.” Isakson called the acceptance rate for the app since its debut earlier this year “tremendous,” and he credited founder Jordan Kavana with the idea for the program. “The idea is that the app answers the question, ‘How can we do good, create value, and also help retain our residents?’” Isakson said, noting the ARK Homes For Rent resident tends be getting married or is already married, has children or is planning on having children in the near future, thinking hard about school systems, and “simply does not want to move all the time.” He concluded, “It cannot be ‘just about the rent check;’ it has to be about community and a sense of wellbeing. When we achieve that, we provide people a place to live that truly feels like home.” Creating the Best Opportunities in the “Forever Renter” Trend In 2022, ApartmentList.com reported that the percentage of Millennial renters who were planning to “rent forever” had hit an all-time high of 18%, up from 11% just four years (and a global pandemic) prior. At that time, Forbes contributor

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Bridgeport, Connecticut

“Park City” Real Estate Bucks Post-Pandemic Trends, Presents Headwinds By Carole VanSickle Ellis All around the United States, luxury real estate markets are softening, but Bridgeport, Connecticut, also known as “Park City” for its 1,300 acres of public parks, is home to one of only three luxury markets bucking the trend. In the northeastern town that shares a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with Stamford, Connecticut, luxury property listings increased toward the end of 2023 while prices in this housing tier continued to rise. In fact, the entirety of the Bridgeport market is still going strong in 2024 due to ongoing, strong demand for housing in the area and limited inventory. Bridgeport is part of a cluster of northeastern markets designated by Realtor.com as some of the hottest housing markets in the country. These markets, wrote Realtor.com economic research analyst Hannah Jones in June of last year, “boast strong employment conditions…high housing demand, and tight inventory.” For real estate investors, the Bridgeport market is more accessible than many other northeastern markets due to the availability of land for multifamily development and a relatively large number of older WWII-era homes in need of updates and renovations. “About 40% of Bridgeport’s housing stock was built prior to 1940 and would benefit from the kinds of energy-saving, cost-saving upgrades that would occur more routinely in a housing market that features significant new production,” noted city planners in a 2023 housing analysis. “Bridgeport is home to a great concentration of construction-related businesses… [and] this industry-cluster uniquely positions the city to capitalize on increased housing production,” the research team concluded. “Residential development can be a core industry within Bridgeport just as it is in the U.S.” “[Bridgeport] has been sort of a diamond in the rough, but we are getting discovered,” local developer John Guedes told the New York Times in late 2023. Guedes. His construction firm had just acquired a former Holiday Inn and announced plans to convert the 268-room hotel into roughly 100 one- and two-bedroom luxury apartments catering to young professionals. Guedes predicted his residents would likely “take the train for work to New York City” and would pay rents averaging $2,750 a month. The project has been underway since 2022, when the hotel closed its doors and fell victim to hospitality industry struggles in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Guedes’s company, Primrose Companies, recently received approval to move forward with a riverfront condominium development on the Housatonic River after a local judge ruled its application for development rights could not be denied by the municipal Planning and Zoning board, which had bogged down the process for six years. Guedes expects those townhouse units to list for just under $500,000. The ruling is important for Guedes and other local developers because the judge stated in the ruling, “If an application conforms to regulations, the board has no discretion and must approve it.” As is the case in many markets presently, Bridgeport’s housing inventory struggles with affordable housing availability. For investors, the acquisition process is challenging because many owners are electing not to sell due to difficulties finding and financing another home in the area. A Prime Location for Commuters, but More Single-Family Housing is Needed Thanks to a median home price more than $100,000 lower than national prices, more than $450,000 lower than median prices in New York City, Bridgeport has emerged as an ideal location for commuters to the Big Apple. Trips into New York City and surrounding areas are entirely manageable by train, bus, or ferry. Commuters on the Metro-North railroad reach Manhattan in less than an hour. To serve this commuting population, Bridgeport has a number of multifamily developments currently underway. However, local inventory of single-family residences remains low. In 2023, Bridgeport posted a 61% year-over-year increase in housing permits, but most of those permits were for multifamily buildings. Interest in multifamily assets from out-of-state investors has also pushed demand for these developments (and their price tags) higher, creating a space in the market for investors willing to think creatively about the creation and acquisition of single-family properties. Connecticut Realty Trust chairman Robert Kligerman told the Hartford Business Journal in late 2023 rising prices in the distressed multi-family sector pushed his family company into build-to-rent single family residential (SFR) construction and duplex developments. Kligerman leveraged the purchase of a multifamily property with an attached 35 acres approved for single-family development in neighboring Danbury to ultimately build 23 duplex-style houses and 19 single-family homes that will be exclusively rentals. The community includes a pool, clubhouse, and dog park, and residents pay between $3,400 and $4,500 a month in rent for their units. However, there is an ongoing need for more single-family housing. In March 2024, Construction Coverage ranked Bridgeport in its “Bottom 15” for small cities with single-family homes. Currently, only about 41% of housing in Bridgeport is single-family. Local real estate professionals and analysts blame the failure of local, residential construction to “bounce back” after the 2008 housing crisis. According to data from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, residential construction rates were far below peaks reached in the early 2000s and actually falling in 2015 and 2016, when the rest of the country was marking the start of recovery from the Great Recession and the housing and financial meltdowns. A combination of suppressive factors contributes to Bridgeport’s lack of single-family residential construction, writes CT Mirror housing reporter Ginny Monk. “The state faces a shortage of construction workers as well as rising costs of land and materials,” she said, adding, “Many construction projects are also slowed or halted by what experts say are restrictive local zoning ordinances.” For an investor able to acquire properties for renovation or develop new single-family units, there is great opportunity in Bridgeport. Connecticut has tried to incentivize developers to build more units of all types and consistently include “middle-income units” through a combination of tax credits, loans, and grants, but experts say inventory will not loosen any time soon. Nandini Natajaran,

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Building the Future

The Digital Transformation of Construction & Renovation Finance By John Ryan A digital transformation is coming quickly to the construction and renovation lending industry. Two main catalysts have contributed to this emerging shift — the rapid advances in technology and an influx of private capital seeking to fill the void left by the regional bank system pullback. Business leaders and staff are using this period of higher interest rates to invest in operational efficiencies, data driven risk management, and the client experience to scale more safely and keep costs in check ahead of the next cycle. Even now with interest rates high, industry estimates of the full residential construction, renovation, and bridge lending wallet are around $450B annually. That number can be debated and broken down by business line, asset type, what’s addressable, lender type, etc. but in the end one thing is clear, there is considerable opportunity. In order to capitalize on this opportunity, lenders are embracing technology that will revolutionize the way construction funds are managed, from enhancing the precision of risk analysis to streamlining communication among stakeholders. By adopting digital platforms, the industry can move away from its reliance on outdated methods and shift toward a future where financial decisions are data-driven, timely, and more secure. The regional bank retreat was not merely a reaction to immediate financial pressures, it also reflected a broader reassessment of risk and return in the construction sector, historically viewed as high-risk by financial institutions. But now technology can help mitigate some of the age-old fears of construction lending and be a tool for the continued institutionalization of the industry. And private money lenders have been first movers to act and we are now seeing a tremendous influx of private capital into the housing construction and renovation sector where it is desperately needed. As a lender considers undergoing a digital transformation, it is critical for the key stakeholders to understand the industry landscape today, where it’s going, and how to get started on making a decision on which technology solution is right for them. The Current Technology Landscape Today, the industry is served by a host of Loan Operating Systems (LOS) which primarily focus on loan structuring. This includes the upfront ingestion of a loan, document management, and ongoing data exchange with servicers. A few long established, proficient vendors and a swath of homegrown systems serve the market needs. Borrower portals are either non-existent, embedded in the LOS platform, or again, homegrown technology with varying degrees of borrower adoption. Once a loan is approved, the bulk of construction and renovation loans are managed through a complex web of spreadsheets, emails, and text messages. These manual processes are opaque and hard to scale, posing significant operating challenges including a lack of efficiency and transparency often leading to delays, cost and staffing overruns, and the inability to capitalize on potential opportunities for innovation and growth. A traditional non-digital approach to construction fund-control also increases key-person risk and intuition or “gut feelings” rather than data-driven insights. While large-scale projects may benefit somewhat from structured processes like the G702 forms, smaller residential construction and renovation projects lack standardized procedures, leaving them vulnerable to inconsistencies and inaccuracies in budget monitoring and risk assessment. Tech-forward and well-capitalized lenders may build internal systems to manage the workflow with their clients. The results may serve the lender well, however it’s important to note lenders bear the upfront cost of development and ongoing opex related to technology ownership and staffing and therefore are spending time and resources for non-core competency business. Further, most home-grown workflows are internal staff focused and do not tackle the more challenging aspects of providing a well adopted self-service program for customers with high borrower satisfaction. Other lenders use older technology or captive software systems provided by inspection companies. However, actual decisioning and customer experience typically remain in offline spreadsheets where staff are still inputting draws on the behalf of borrowers. Lacking a true auditable transaction flow, over-disbursement errors can still occur. The broader construction and renovation lending ecosystem also involves numerous stakeholders, including lenders, note buyers, warehouse lenders, borrowers, contractors, and government entities, each with their own preferences and requirements. Aligning these diverse perspectives requires extensive communication and decision-making, potentially leading to inefficiencies and delays. Technology provides the architecture to streamline this system. Thankfully, private lenders and their capital partners are leading the charge in demanding innovative, off-the-shelf construction portfolio solutions and technologies to enhance risk controls, streamline lending processes, and leverage data for predictive analytics and reporting. Embracing a technological edge naturally improves the client experience, adding to the many reasons professional real estate investors and developers favor private lenders. What Does the Future of Construction Finance Look Like? The future is digital. At TrustPoint, we offer the construction and renovation lending industry a modern SaaS platform to streamline operations through our smart, purpose-built workflow. Our proprietary technology takes unstructured data and structures it to enable our innovative data-driven portfolio risk management and analytics. Our solution includes auditable fund control, integration with third party vendors, project health scoring, predictive insights into loan performance, cash forecasting visibility, and much more. The platform’s technology leverages the latest in artificial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, enabling lenders to assess the risk and viability of construction projects with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The integration of AI-powered decision engines into construction finance platforms represents a significant leap forward in how financing decisions are made. This exciting journey has only just begun. It is essential to evaluate your return on investment (ROI) when evaluating the cost of adding technology. TrustPoint’s returns come from improved scalability, auditability, and decision making with granular budget tracking, integrated inspection, approval, risk-scoring, and more. Lenders experience higher customer satisfaction (TrustPoint has an 86 NPS) and reduced support load with a highly utilized borrower portal (89% of borrowers self-service through our platform) and real time transparency into request status. They gain enhanced visibility and performance insights for leadership and investors with portfolio

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Properly Insuring Your “Subject To” Property

Bottom Line: If You Own It, You Insure It By Jacqui Price A subject-to deal is a creative investment strategy that involves an investor acquiring a property subject to the existing mortgage, effectively taking over payments to the lender and assuming responsibility for the home. While subject-to deals can offer substantial benefits, including minimal upfront costs and quick closing times, they also may introduce complexities in terms of insurance coverage. Understanding the risks that come with subject-to deals and how to properly insure these investments are essential for protecting your financial interests. Navigating the Due-on-Sale (DOS) Clause Due-on-Sale clauses grant a lender the right to call the note due (demand full repayment of the loan) upon the transfer of ownership of the property. This clause is of importance to real estate investors engaging in subject-to deals, as the transfer of ownership without the lender’s consent can trigger this provision. There is not a guaranteed way to avoid the DOS clause, as calling the note due because of ownership change is within a lender’s rights. But generally, if payments are being made on the loan and the mortgage company is listed in the mortgagee clause, the lender is less likely to call the note due. The Wrong Way to Insure a Subject – To Property Under no circumstances do we recommend the seller of your subject-to property keep their homeowners coverage in force. For one, the seller is likely already under financial hardship. Should a loss occur, and the seller somehow receives a claim check, they could take the money and run. Now you are left with an uninhabitable building and no claim money coming back to you. Furthermore, being named as an Additional Insured on the previous homeowner’s existing policy is not sufficient coverage. If it is discovered that the ex-owner, the First Named Insured in this case, no longer owns the property, it is fully within the insurer’s rights to deny a claim since the policyholder no longer owns the property. Even if by some chance you manage to get the claim paid, as mentioned above, you are not the entity that will receive the check, as you are not the First Named Insured. Additional concerns include carrying two insurance policies on the same property. Most policies have excess clauses, stating that the policy will only pay excess amounts if any other policy exists. If one of the two (or both) policies has such a clause, it can create major problems in getting a loss paid. Consider this scenario: following your acquisition of the property through a subject-to deal, you and the former owner reach a mutual agreement allowing them to continue residing in the property and remit monthly rent payments to you. You obtain a non-owner-occupied insurance policy and the previous owner’s policy remains in place. A few months later, a fire occurs, and you file a claim with your insurer, so far, so good. However, the tenant (previous owner) has personal property damage, so they file a claim against their existing homeowners policy. The respective insurance carrier on each claim is bound to find out about the other policy’s existence and could (more than likely, would) attempt to invoke the excess clause of its own contract, potentially leaving you waiting for courts/arbitration to settle. In this scenario, we recommend requiring your tenant (the previous owner) to carry renters insurance. A renters policy will protect their personal property, whereas a homeowners policy for a structure they no longer own, will not. The Correct Way to Insure Your Subject – To Property The most important thing to remember when acquiring any type of property is this: if you (or your entity) own, or have a financial stake in the property, be the First Named Insured. The First Named Insured is the primary recipient of any potential claim benefit or liability protection. The proper way to insure a property acquired through a subject-to deal, is to have a non-owner-occupied “landlord” policy, with yourself or the owning entity (whichever is listed on the title of the home) as the First Named Insured. The lender will receive notice from the carrier once the homeowners policy is canceled. If they are doing their job, they are hounding their borrower for proof of replacement coverage. This is where the policy you purchased will suffice. When reviewing the Evidence of Insurance you provide, the lender will make sure:  »         Their mortgagee clause is listed correctly to protect their interest in the property.  »         The insured value meets or exceeds the amount of the loan to satisfy the lender’s interest in the location.  »         Most importantly, their borrower must be listed somewhere on the certificates.             The seller should be listed as an Additional Interest only on the liability certificate. Should there be a liability loss where the buyer (you) and seller are named in a lawsuit, the seller would have protection. Once again, do not add the seller as an Additional Insured on the property coverage or list them as a Named Insured on the property policy. If the property suffers a loss and the seller’s name is on the property policy, it is also on the claim check. You do not want to have a check you are unable to cash if you cannot reach the seller to get it signed. Bottom line: if you own it, you insure it. Do your due diligence and make sure the insurance company you work with can insure your subject-to properties the right way.

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Keeping Customer Experience on the Radar

How Innovation & Sustainability are Helping Halstead Grow By Carole VanSickle Ellis In the world of flooring, the customer experience never ends. You start with wherever you are standing when you realize you need new flooring, and you’re still going years later when you have to answer the questions:  » “Is this pleasing in my sight?  » “Is my floor functioning properly?  » “Did it provide me with everlasting beauty? “That is why our number one focus, our whole focus, is on the customer experience, because if you focus on providing the best customer experience in the flooring marketplace, the other elements take care of themselves.” With this bold statement, Eric Anderson, president of global flooring manufacturer Halstead, a member of HMTX Industries, sums up his view of flooring. This view is elegant, sweeping, and surprisingly comprehensive. It also explains a lot about how the company operates on such a successful global scale today. “We have incredible resources and very strong strategic partners,” said Anderson proudly. “Innovation, quality, supply-chain excellence, and sustainability are all things that keep you ahead of competition and ahead of the curve. We achieve all of that by never taking our eyes off the customer experience radar.” Anderson, who has served as Halstead’s president since 2019, started out in the industry as a “manufacturer’s rep” selling a variety of home-repair and -maintenance products to “big box” DIY stores like The Home Depot. He recalled driving 92,000 miles during his first year on the job, but added, “It was really fruitful for me [later on] because I was able to learn so much about the type of customers we serve at Halstead today.” He remained in that position for five years before moving on to national account management with another company and, eventually, transitioning to his current position at Halstead. “That foundational learning really set me on the path to position myself to be a great supplier as well as a helpful and knowledgeable source of information,” he concluded. During those foundational years, Anderson worked closely with The Home Depot, the company upon which Halstead’s supply focus rests today. “Getting to know their culture and their values so early has been invaluable to me since then,” he said, adding, “What is really awesome is that 34 years later, HMTX’s values and culture very much align with that of The Home Depot’s.” Succeeding Throughout the Customer Experience Halstead employs every medium available to create the “seamless” customer experience Anderson describes so passionately. In addition to offering written product and installation guides, the company also hosts detailed videos, offers live chat with installation experts, supports a phone service team, answers emails, and has created a “DIY Genius” social media brand featuring practical information and videos as well as décor and design advice. “It is not enough to only work to drive innovation and product development, although we certainly are doing that on a daily basis,” Anderson said. “You have to bring it all together from the idea and the creation of the product all the way to the sale of the product off the shelves and the execution of that product for customers.” In this case, “execution” refers to the acquisition, installation, and ongoing use of Halstead products in a residential or commercial setting. Anderson explained Halstead’s resources are designed for professionals and DIYers. “I have to keep my eye on the ball so that we are always in alignment with product development when it comes to presenting a value-add proposition to customers that they can effectively execute,” he said. The company prioritizes communication with vendors and customers alike so that all parties can make good decisions about what types of flooring to install and how that flooring should positively affect the ongoing use of the building. “We have a product for every application,” Anderson explained. “The formula for success is, ‘application equals product type plus spec.” One of the things Halstead is particularly proud of, Anderson said, is the level of authenticity in its LVT (luxury vinyl tile) flooring. This type of authenticity costs more to achieve in LVT and LVP (luxury vinyl plank) because it requires the texture of the flooring to match the pattern of the wood or tile pattern exactly. “At Halstead, we invest in EIR (Embossed in Register) embossing plates to create this authenticity,” Anderson said. EIR creates a highly realistic effect that contributes to higher home values as well as more general aesthetic appeal. “With real wood, if you pick up a piece of flooring and there is a knot, you will be able to feel the knot when you touch it,” Anderson explained. “In most types of LVT flooring, the texture will not line up with the image of the knot even if it is scraped or otherwise textured to make it look a little more authentic. Our team realized years ago that achieving this match would be incredibly valuable to property owners by providing a premium flooring look, so we heavily invested in EIR.” Research & Development Sets Halstead Apart Once the authenticity angle had been “mastered,” Anderson said, HMTX Industries began developing a new product it would name Isocore. “Isocore is the proprietary formula of the core of Halstead’s products and comes with a number of advantages over traditional vinyl flooring options,” he explained. The core brings rigidity to the flooring, which creates a more realistic look once the product is installed because it does not “telegraph” (conform) to the underlying topography of the floor. A particularly attractive element of Isocore for contractors is that there is no “weathering” period, Anderson added. “Customers can order and install our flooring immediately rather than waiting for the product to acclimate to the local environment,” he said. Anderson noted Isocore has an excellent track record of resilience post-installation as well, exceeding performances from more rigid products in the market like the near-ubiquitous stone plastic composite (SPC) products available in many markets today. “SPC products have been out in the market for several

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Opportunities in Single-Family New Construction

Be Picky and Find an Ideal Project in an Ideal Area By Mitchell Zagrodnik In the ever-changing real estate investment space, investors are always on the lookout for potential deals that can help them take advantage of the market and get them the best returns on their investments. Throughout the first half of 2024, the market outlook has been persistently stagnant. Rates do not appear to be dropping anytime soon, home prices are rising, and low inventory continues to be a hurdle as demand is outpacing supply. When rates experienced that first big jump back in mid-2022, it was quite a jolt. Eighteen months later, the mindset has adjusted to acknowledge this current environment as the new norm. There is optimism in the market for homebuyers and investors, as new home construction has been more robust than expected at the start of 2024. Housing starts and permits are also headed in the right direction. Overall housing starts are down, but if you look deeper, that is mainly due to multi-family starts being down significantly. The single-family market, however, has been showing consistent signs of improvement. The most recent data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that new single-family building permits have continued to climb for the 13th consecutive month. This shows that builders are actively addressing market need, with an emphasis on building affordable, entry level homes for prospective buyers. Granted, this isn’t going to solve the supply issue overnight, but the takeaway is that single family new construction has been stepping up to help address this ongoing issue. The general consensus is that rates are not likely to drop until late 2024, and increased demand should raise prices on new builds that are starting in the next 3-6 months. Those new builds should then experience rapid appreciation in late 2024 and early 2025 by the time these finished builds hit market. Planning and Experience are Key The recent uptick in building permits over consecutive months showcases that builders are acknowledging the inventory issues for single family homes. This rise also shows an increase in entry-level starter homes, where there has been a significant need, as opposed to the recent trends of new construction projects being more geared towards the non-starter home market. Builders are tackling the need for entry-level homes, with the ultimate goal being to add affordable housing for a target audience of first-time homebuyers and investors with lower capital. With a great game plan and experienced builders onboard, ground up construction projects can offer great returns for investors as well, while addressing the inventory issue we have been experiencing in recent years. It is important to note that new construction builds can not only be difficult ventures for newer investors, but it will also be more difficult to get your loan approved. Most lenders in the investment space are going to require some form of experience when taking on these projects. Any previous rehab project or ground up experience is going to be a focal point when it comes to approval. The more experienced you are the more appealing the terms will be. It can also speed up the process if the plans and permits are already in place by the time you speak to your lender about the project. It is crucial that the lender gets a clear understanding of the scope of the project, and that the builder has completed projects of a similar scale prior. For single family homes, lenders are going to want to see these projects in established neighborhoods and be sure the newly built project will conform to that neighborhood. For example, if the median home value in the neighborhood is $350,000, but the finished product is expected to appraise for $600,0000, that is going to be a difficult deal to get approved. The value heavily exceeds the average for the area, making it less attractive to buyers and therefore riskier for lenders to want to fund. Setting Expectations and Doing Research Experienced fix-and-flip investors know that purchasing an existing property can come with surprises. Existing issues with properties will require repairs and potentially hidden issues like water and structural damage that might not be noticeable upon the purchase. With a brand-new build those issues should not come into play which can be a major selling point when the property is listed for sale. Whether the plan is to sell the property or hold onto it as a rental, the allure of being the first to live in a brand-new home is very attractive to prospective homebuyers. The builder gets a sense of accomplishment for executing their building plan and providing a new, stable home for the buyer as well as the financial benefits since new construction homes tend to sell for more. Especially if you have a great building plan that incorporates cost effective features into the property that can add significant value. It is important to know that even though the reward is often worthy of the time put in, these projects are not to be taken lightly and it is imperative that you can financially afford to take on such an endeavor. As opposed to typical rehab projects on existing properties, upfront costs are higher due to permits, fees, materials and labor. Just like with fix-and-flips and ready to rent properties, not every property is a good investment property. Be picky and find an ideal project in an ideal area that can pay huge dividends. The recent single-family construction trends highlighted here are signs of optimism that the lack of inventory is being addressed and there are existing opportunities. If you are a builder and have a resume of flip projects, maybe it’s time to talk to your lender about new construction deals. If you are someone that has a portfolio of rental properties but have never taken on a rehab project, look to connect with contractors and experienced builders that are working on construction projects and let them know that you are interested

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