Argus Bits

Using Resales As Market Comps? When looking at a potential project and conducting the market analysis, the best market comps...

What Are Street Sections? In our last post in talking about public and private streets, we referred to the street...

Public vs Private Streets? In most site plans and tract maps, I would think that the streets are designed to...

HOA - Is It Necessary? It seems that most residential developments have a homeowners’ association established, especially if you compared...

Right-of-Way Dedications? In our last post, we talked about rules of thumb for density relative to lot sizes and product...

Density - Rules of Thumb? During the initial stage of land development, a developer needs to conduct some fairly thoughtful...

What Does "Land Residual" Mean? During the land acquisition process or in the financial analysis, “land residual” is a commonly...

Key Needs To Start Preliminary Engineering? Before a civil engineer can start the preliminary engineering and project design, some key...

Is Annexation Difficult? Here in California, we have the Local Agency Formation Commission (better known as LAFCO), which oversees the...

What Are Technical Studies? During the entitlement process, many states require some form of assessment as to the environmental impacts...

What is a Section 7 Consultation? In the world of environmental agencies and environmental permits, I have often found it...

The Timing Risk of Buying Land? The age-old mantra in real estate has always been location, location, location.  But in...

The Underbelly of Traffic Signals? Usually resulting from a traffic study and a required mitigation measure, the installation of a...

What Can Go Wrong? In most land transactions, the land developer or homebuilder will have a due diligence period to...

What is Product Segmentation? Most developers of master planned communities are very sophisticated in how they analyze market conditions and...

Equity vs. Debt? For those not familiar with the finance side of housing projects, today will be a brief explanation...

What is Preliminary Underwriting? When making an offer for land, the format I have typically seen in the industry is...

What is the Purpose of Specific Plans? In a previous post, we talked about the General Plan Land Use and...

How To Order A Prelim? One of the first steps in a real estate transaction is to obtain a preliminary...

Building Permit Fees, Impact Fees, Plan Check Fees? I have noticed a bit of confusion when the conversation talks about...