Thanks Troy. Last March, a lender on my main subdivision went under and I had to stop all I was doing and refinance it. Not an easy task back then. New lenders wanted a lot; most just turned it down. I finally called a friend on a bank board and he referred me to a new lender (talked to over 20 lenders prior to this). Had to pay last year's property taxes (2008), put up 2009's a year in advance, put up a year's interest in advance and a $400,000 CD to secure a loan that was 35% LTV with three good builders in the subdivision. Got all that done somehow.
Now, I've got that loan paid down to 1/3rd of the original balance. 15 more lots and the lender is fully paid. So, bullet dodged. Around November, builders just came out of the woodwork. Where none would make strong commitments in the past year, now they were putting up meaningful earnest money to get into good locations. Got a good new builder and kept a strong one that's been in since the beginning.
I've been waiting a couple years to bid on deals the banks were letting go, and just couldn't break any free. Since December, I've had several opportunities to buy notes on subdivisions or to step into a situation where a developer has defaulted. It's very sad on the one hand because I know most of the developers. On the other hand, this business if very cyclical and this is when good opportunities show up for those of us that kept our powder dry and performed in this down turn.
Best,
Dave
