If I had a dollar every time someone asked me if they were twins... I'd be able to fund my next deal.
Project Lum Update
It's been 206 days since we purchased Project Lum (11/06/2025).
If you were to judge our progress based on what you can see, you'd think we're asleep at the wheel.
- The house is still standing
- The grass is overgrown
- The utilities haven't been disconnected
- The rats are reproducing
But we haven't been sitting on our hands. The team has been busy preparing our application for a variance on side yard setbacks.
You see, this lot is only 37.5' wide. And the side yard setback requirement in this town is 12.5' per side, which means we'd be limited to building a home that's only 12.5' wide.
I don't know about you, but I would NOT be excited to live in a home about as wide as a car on the NYC Subway.
What Does it Take:
Taking on a challenge like this is NOT in our wheelhouse. We're in the business of "rippin'" through projects in as little as 10 months close to close. This one requires a different approach.
- Patience: Not exactly our strong suit, but so far we're passing the test. The Zoning Board meets 1x/month, and we've been on the agenda since March.
- Belief / Confidence: We are in the business of making sure bets. We know what we can build before we even make an offer. For this project, we had Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C - all of which had significantly different outcomes.
- The Right Team: Going for a Variance requires hiring a Land-Use Attorney, a Planner, an Engineer, a Surveyor, and an Architect. Thankfully, our usual suspects were up for the challenge.
- Humility: When presenting an application for an exception to the rules, you have to come with hat in hand. There's no room for entitlement. It's glaringly obvious we're jumping through hoops to make a profit, and no one is going to feel sorry for the "big bad builder" that loses their shirt due to making a bad bet. The focus must be on the community, neighborhood, and respect for the rules in place.
What Went Down:
The Zoning Board Meeting meets on the 4th Wednesday of every month. They begin promptly at 7:30pm and won't start a new case after 10:00pm.
Our name was called at 9:58pm this past Wednesday. We didn't leave the building until 12:30am. 😅
It started with our Land-Use Attorney making our case. Then he called our first witness, my partner and Managing Member of the Project LLC.
He presented existing conditions and drove home the point that the current structure was unsafe and uninhabitable. It needed to be torn down.
After that, our attorney called our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th witnesses: Planner, Engineer, & Architect. This is when things got a bit more technical. They presented their findings on the neighborhood, their proposed footprints and layouts, and the benefits of letting us execute our vision.
Then came the massive wave of neighbors who showed up to voice their opinion. A few were for this project, but many more were against. They were heard and put on the record.
Then came the vote. We needed 3 of 5 board members to approve. 4 were in favor. 🎉🎉🎉
High-fives and pats on the back all around.
I left out a little drama and a few concessions we had to make on our plans, but they're irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
The point is: We are now on our way to achieving Plan A, and that feels really fricken good.
What's Next?
The board will draft a resolution document and vote on it during next month's meeting.
Then we have to redo our plans to meet the board's requests and resubmit an updated set to the town engineer.
Once that's approved, we resubmit to zoning, and then we can build 😄
If all goes well, it looks like another 90-120 days before we put a shovel in the ground, at which point we will really have to rip because the loan for this project is set to mature 18 months from purchase.
18*30=540 days total.
540 - 206 - 120 = 214 days to build and sell.
214 / 30 = 7 months. We'll be fine.... I think 😅
✌🏽&❤️
What I'm Working On...
