Taking Jan 19/20-Anyone who has built for profit would like to talk w/ you

[steinmex3]

Hi,

I'll be at the Jan 19/20 class and I'm interested in speaking with any LHBA members who have built for profit. In the midst of a career change and after several assessments my coach believes I belong in nature building things.

You can call me at 720-838-4792 or email me at steinmexx3@comcast.net

thx
greg

[Bessy]

Hey Greg, My husband, brother and I are taking the first class in Jan. We're all considering the possibility that building log cabins for a living might work for us also. I'm hoping to ask these kinds of questions(building for profit?) at the class or in the members section when we get home. Somewhere on this site it does mention a student who built a cabin and then sold it soon after for double or triple what he had in it. I just wonder whereabouts that was and if that was during the housing boom of the last 5 years or so. I would guess that the log cabin market is just as fickle as the rest of the housing market right now. Anyway, I'm not to worried about that for now. By the time we find land ,prep the land,build ourselves a cabin and settle in ect...It will be at least 4 years before I'll want to build for someone else. And hopefully by then the housing market will have stabilized a bit. Anyway, good luck with your career change/plans and I hope someone experienced answers your questions soon 'cause I'm curious too. Bess

[bkleber]

One of the sold-for-huge-profit houses is <A HREF="http://loghomebuilders.org/image-galleries/student-log-homes/jeff-cooley">Jeff Cooley's</A>, materials cost $60k and it sold for a hair under $500k. At the other end of the spectrum of complexity and difficulty is a house that *used* to be the only photo on the front page of the LHBA's website, but I can't find it in the student galleries any more - Ellsworth or Steve, any idea whose house that was and what happened to its picture gallery? It was basically a one-story-tall box (maybe 10-12 courses of logs high) ~30x30 feet with a steeply sloped roof, so that there was a full-sized second story on top without the need for two stories' worth of log walls. The builder's comments were that he could turn about $100k profit on one of those and *easily* make one a year - 2 a yar if he really put his nose to the grindstone. And I think he was working solo.

I'm also strongly considering taking on log home building as a career. My wife and I took the class about a year and a half ago, and in about a week I'm applying for my building permits for the first house. This will be my proving ground, mainly to myself, where I learn whether I love it as much as I expect to, or not. There's no doubt in my mind that it can happen, nor any doubt that it will - it's just whether I'm going to enjoy it as much as I think I will. This first house is going to be for my mother-in-law to live in - it'll be on property she currently owns, and it will replace a double-wide manufactured home that is starting to deteriorate. Plans are to devote weekends to house-building as soon as the building permits come through, and I'm expecting one full year of weekends - about 100 days of work - for the project to be completed. (That's accounting for crappy weather and a learning curve. If I do it a second time, and/or if everything goes perfectly the first time, I'd bet on more like 70 days actual work.) And after that... if this works out the way I think it will, I will very quickly start a second home with the intent of selling it as soon as it is completed. Again, that home would be built in a 1-year scheme, on the weekends. And after *that*, I will decide if I love that kind of work to the point where I'd be happier doing it full time. If the answer is yes, then I say goodbye to an office and a commute, and I will live on-site wherever I'm building and crank out a house in 1/3 the time. Ten years of that, and I'll have enough in the bank to live more than comfortably off the interest... or using the method Skip describes in his "Rich Dad/Poor Dad" article (linked to from the LHBA's main page) sell the last few homes on a private note and have the buyers pay their monthly house payment to me instead of to a bank, and live off of that.

If you agree with your coach - that outdoors and building will make you happy and bring you fulfillment - then I think that creating LHBA-style Butt-And-Pass homes will be in your future. Having taken the course and spent my time preparing for this project, I don't know of anything that sounds more to me like heaven.

I'm sorry I don't have a personal success story to regale you with yet, but with what I've seen on these forums, I don't doubt that if you work to make this happen, you will succeed. If you've got any questions feel free to contact me at Benjamin dot Kleber at Gmail dot Com.

[rreidnauer]

At the other end of the spectrum of complexity and difficulty is a house that *used* to be the only photo on the front page of the LHBA's website, but I can't find it in the student galleries any more - Ellsworth or Steve, any idea whose house that was and what happened to its picture gallery?
It can still be seen at http://www.loghomeinfo.com/student_log_home1.htm

[easyliving]

Very nice indeed, we're certainly anxious for the 19th and 20th class.

[steinmex3]

Thanks for the helpful information. Looking forward to learning as much as I can.

[steinmex3]

thanks for the insight and info...I'm looking forward to the upcoming class.

[steinmex3]

there seems to be data that is being collected in the real estate industry on log cabin homes and their prices...I need to look into it further but appears to be favorable

[Liltrouble]

I would imagine that it would be just like any other housing venture. If you can find land in the right spot, and build it right (i.e. the doors still open and close after a year...lol), then there's bound to be people out there that want to buy it. Real estate being as it is now you may have to sit on it a bit to turn your profit, but hell 20k turned into 150k or more in a year or two is better than you can do in the stock market or just about anywhere else for that matter.
I myself am planning on doing just that. It makes perfect sense both in numbers and in timeframe for me at least.
Build one as cheap as possible but still very nice, live in it and put it on the market at a reasonable below-appraisal price to make it attractive to buyers. Take the profit and build another one to live in and a second one to sell, then do it again.....simple multiplication from my point of view. Give it 10 years or so and you've got yourself a nice retirement....gotta say, retiring at 39 by just doing a bit of hard work doesn't sound like a bad outcome to me!!! : )
Trick is to stop listening to all those negative little voices that say "you can't", they only say that because they themselves are scared to. Best way to shut them up is to prove them wrong....lol Been doing it all my life and it hasn't backfired on me once yet. : )
It's not for everyone and I have a feeling the class will make or break your decisions for building or building for profit. If you walk away pining for a chainsaw there's a good chance you'll do well....so I say go for it and don't look back. : )

Cheryl : )

[larryn]

Another way to think of it is to move into the house as soon as you get the Certificate of Occupancy and establish residency. You may be able to complete the finish work, (paint, flooring, etc), after you move in, but the important thing is to establish residency. After moving in and finishing home, refinance it for maximum, (paying zero point on loan, even if higher rate), and pull as much money out to start the next one, (hopefully near by). Get the next home ready approx. 2 years from the time you moved into the first, and then put the first one on the market for sale. Here is critical part - do not sell, (record), the first house until at least 2 years after you moved in to it. If you do that, you will be able to sell the first house with the first $250,000 of profit tax free! Check with your state if there would be no state taxes as well. Better yet, if you owned and lived in the first house with a partner, (doesn't have to be a spouse - could be just a friend), you both would be entitled to a $250,000 tax free profit, (note: my understanding is any profits over that $250,000 would be taxed at the lower long term capital gains tax rate). Then you keep going doing that, that is unless they change the law. For now though, this is the best way to make money that I know of, especially if you don't mind moving every 2 years or so. For example, if a couple was able to make a combined profit of $500,000 for building and living in a new home for two years, they would need to make probably at least $1,000,000 over that same period of time to NET $500K, (after paying payroll, fed and state, etc. taxes).

Please note: I'm not a tax accountant, so need to check this out with someone who is, but I have been in the Real Estate business for a looooonnng time and run a small, Family owned Real Estate business and have picked up a few ideas. Good luck with your business plan!!

Larry