BAR wrote:
Boater wrote:
BAR wrote:
Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Boater wrote:
Gene wrote:
On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:03:49 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers
III, Esq."
wrote:

We are thinking about using this downturn in the housing
market to build a new home, and acting as our own General
Contractor. Has anyone in the group done this and do they
have any words of advice?

Yes, with three houses and two workshops. Not only was I General
Contractor, I was also 50% of the labor.

Your only real savings, in this market, will be sweat equity.
You can
buy cheaper than you can build.... you just have to find an
equally
desperate mortgagee and mortgagor.... or you could do it the
seat
equity route, if you have the cash, tools, and a desire to
make it
happen.

No bank is going to let *you* (as their mortgagor) serve as
General
Contractor unless you hold a contractor's license.

Advice? You're crazy to even attempt it...... uh, but wasn't I
thinking about adding on to the workshop.....

.... Oh, never mind......


It's an incredible burner of time. I had to do it because the
general I hired to build a custom home in Northern Virginia
turned out to be way overextended financially from previous
projects, and could not line up the subs I wanted, and was
teetering.

Took the builder to court, had a civil jury trial, and won a
settlement of more than $100,000. Never collected anything but
the builder's license bond from the state.

With the help of the lumberyard (who issued the construction
bond) and my bank, I took over when the foundation had been
laid and the slabs poured, hired a project manager to oversee
the subs on salary and bonus, and completed the house just a
hair over budget. I had to be on the site for about an hour at
6:30 AM just about every morning.

It was a huge house, ultra modern, with four full brick
fireplaces, nearly 4000 square feet on the main level, and
another 3,000 square feet finished in the basement. I looked
it up on Zillow early last year and it was valued at more than
$1.5 million. The "crash" of the real estate market apparently
hit Northern Virginia hard, because when I looked it up on
Zillow earlier this evening, it was valued at about $1.1 million.

Just checked the second house I owned in Northern Virgina...it
was the one we sold to build the custom house. I paid $87k for
it - nice builder's subdivision house - and sold it about five
years later for $160,000, I think. Zillow has it at $600,000
and change. Not bad, and the blue spruce trees I planted there
in the mid-1970s are at least 40 feet tall and full triple wides.

Nice story, and pictures?


There are aerial pictures of both places on Zillow. Soon as you
provide your full legal name here and I verify it, I'll be glad
to supply the addresses of the houses.


Ok, how do you plan on verifying my full legal name?

Quietly; not the way you would do it.


I am always curious why you want to know my full legal name?
What's the deal?


Simple. My feeling is that if your full legal name were publicly
known here, you'd be far less of a snark.


Knowing who you are hasn't improved your behavior or has it?




I'm not a coward. Reggie is.

You are a verbal bully.

You are afraid to meet those who you have verbally abused in person for
fear of having your attitude physically adjusted.


That's simple-minded bull****.

First, there are very very very few people in this newsgroup I care to
meet. I certainly am not going to waste my time meeting someone I don't
care to meet just for the sake of "meeting" them.

Second, I seriously doubt any of the loud-mouthed right-wing schitts in
this newsgroup have what it takes to adjust my attitude. Most of them
are cowards hiding behind screen names, and fearful of their identities
leaking out. My identity is no secret.

Third, if any of the little schitts show up at my front door looking for
trouble, I guarantee they will find it. If they show up to say hello,
they'll be welcomed.

Fourth, when your butt buddy Herring's old boat was out for maintenance,
I invited him out to go fishing. He turned it down. If I recall, I
invited you out, too. If memory serves, you are the only two
loud-mouthed right-wing schitts in my immediate area, right? Short-guy
Scotty, another loud-mouthed right-wing schitt, has an open invite to
stop by any time.

So, who do you think I fear? Brain-dead Loogy? Reggie NoBalls? Florida
Jim, the twerp so frightened he doesn't want anyone to know where in
Central Florida he lives?