Isabella Lane

18 buildable lots on a hillside parcel across the way from Ash Park. A creek along the back side created a riparian corridor that pulled the property line in.

A family that had inherited an old farmstead after the owner died. Two sisters and one of their husbands handling the sale. They came to us directly because of how we'd treated the Ash Park sellers a year earlier.

On Ash Park we could have squeezed the brothers on price. We didn't. The Isabella Lane family heard about that and called us before listing the property.

$10,000 per lot, raw. 18 lots = $180,000 total. Entitlements first, paid for in cash up front. Land closed 90 days after entitlements. The 90-day window let us complete construction drawings before close. When the construction loan funded, we went straight into the dirt. No waiting period. No idle capital.

Because we'd priced the land at raw lot cost and brought the entitlements with us to closing, the appraised value at close was higher than the purchase price. The construction loan covered the land plus horizontal. We put zero equity into the deal at closing — only cash flow to float bills before reimbursement. The seller got their $180,000. We got 18 entitled lots with no down payment.

Riparian corridor along the creek. In Oregon, you can't cut trees in these corridors, and lot lines have to be set back far enough that a tree falling won't reach the neighboring property. That cut into the buildable area. Hillside grading. The lots stepped up the hill, so each pad had to be cut and graded individually. The horizontal work was more involved than a flat site. The seller wouldn't sell the existing farmhouse. They kept it and sold it sideways themselves. We worked around it.

18 lots cut into the hillside. Each pad set at a different grade as the elevation rose. The riparian corridor became the entry feature — three-rail fence along a wooded creek as the first thing buyers saw driving in. Houses built with daylight basements. Main level living on top, kids' rooms and bonus space underneath. The hillside that complicated the horizontal turned into the view that sold the houses.

Sold the lots to a builder. He built the houses and sold them out. The view premium on those lots made his project, and the lot sale made ours.

Two things drove this deal. The first is that we didn't have to find it. The sellers came to us because of how we'd handled Ash Park. Reputation in this business is currency. The deals that come to you without competition are the deals where the margin is real. The second is the capital structure. Pricing the land at raw lot cost, paying for entitlements out of pocket, and bringing the entitled value to closing meant the construction loan covered the entire deal. No equity in at close. The work we did up front created the value that funded the closing. Same structure we used on Ash Park. Same structure we still use today.

Treat sellers right and the next deal finds you. Bring entitlements to closing and the construction loan covers the rest.