At the peak of the last new home market cycle, many projects were stopped and ultimately could not be built out.
Those same finished lots today are now very sought after.
My estimate is that finished lots in the best core home building markets are going to be acquired quickly and will push the market edges out to the perimeter markets.
Regardless of where they are, most likely they present opportunities because they simply are irreplaceable at current costs.
There are a number of key factors and components in determining the value of a finished lot and a mistake in that analysis can be damaging.
A lot has changed in the past year in the area of impact fees associated with home building in California and land development.
What has not changed is that fees are still a big component of the finishing costs.
However, it is more challenging to fully understand what fees may remain on a partially completed or improved project.
Some fees may have been paid in advance and others have changed.
There has been great progress made by the local Building Industry Associations in the Inland Empire, which has resulted in the combination of fee reductions and the timing of fee payments on new home projects.
It is critical to get the most accurate information from the agency that manages those fee programs.
The good news is that 2010 will likely be a good year to activate permits and maps on new home developments in California in order to take advantage of these newer lower fees.
Now is the time to find those new home deals that have these advantages, be the one to understand them and move quickly to acquire.
The caution is to not take some outdated analysis on the costs but to conduct your own independent analysis and to verify the accuracy of all information.