The preconstruction process is an innovative real estate investment opportunity in which you buy tomorrow's property at today's price. Preconstruction investing is a boon for
investor or buyer as well as
developer or builder. The biggest advantage of preconstruction process is that you can reserve your buy at discounted prices without investing a fortune. You simply have to make a small investment that is as low as 5% of
total cost to reserve a unit and pay
balance on achievement of different milestones. For
buyer, preconstruction process provides an opportunity to seal a property deal with little margin money and achieve sizable discounts over
tentative price of
finished condos. For
developer it is an opportunity to presale
entire property even without laying a single brick and to procure a construction lending with relative ease.
In
the preconstruction process, property developers place
building plans of a proposed real estate venture for pre-selling. Only thing made available to
buyer are architectural rendering and floor plans of
condominium, town house, or single family residence. The good news is that preconstruction prices are normally at an attractive discount of
proposed sale price of complete units.
In theory,
buyer gets
discount because they displays
grit and tenacity to invest on mere paper and "air". However, in reality, they are getting discounts because
are a crucial piece of
puzzle for
developer because pre-selling of a particular percentage of
total units is a need for getting a prospective lender to fund
construction process.
If you are interested in investing in preconstruction property, you can check out
list of preconstruction offers available in your locality in
newspapers, on
Internet or with your real estate consultant; that is if you have those types of projects in your locale. When you have
list, you can shortlist
offers that are suitable according to your budget and needs. After that you must run a thorough check on
property and
developer on many issues. Certain key reasons are,
going and expected cost of
similar units in that locality; demand supply factors; whether
units are assignable and uniqueness of
property. You must also check for
future or proposed development plans in
vicinity to protect your view. This aspect is important because you might choose to buy an apartment in a preconstruction process at a premium due to
prefect view of lake or waterfront. However, after some time you may find out that another developer is building a project, which may blind your view.
After you have satisfied yourself with
suitability and pricing of
condominium, you can proceed for
reservation. Most preconstruction properties have a nominal reservation amount, which is normally 5-10% of
total cost and can go as low as $1,000. The reservation process has a simple "Intent to Purchase Agreement" in which you hold
right to first refusal. In this phase, you are safe because your money is in escrow account and you can terminate
agreement without any obligation. Of course,
developer is not really bound to any prices yet at this stage either so both sides are in a loose arrangement.