Representative Homes Projects

DISCIPLINED DECISION MAKING

Before Hillcrest Homes commits the first dollar to a development project, we undertake a carefully-structured, thoroughly disciplined review process. It's our way of ensuring that our funds, and those of our financial partners, are well-invested.

Here's how we analyze each development opportunity:

  • We assign the project to a project manager, who supervises a detailed market research effort -- looking at housing demand; current and future supply of developable lots; local and regional economic conditions affecting job growth, new business formations, unemployment rates, median income trends and consumer confidence.

  • We conduct land use studies to determine the potential yield and product types.

  • We identify all physical constraints to development -- availability of water, sewers, soils conditions, environmental & biological concerns, traffic impacts, and circulation constraints.

  • We meet with all relevant public planning agencies to identify all zoning and general plan requirements that will affect the project.

  • We meet with local school district representatives to determine the impact of the proposed project and to identify potential on-site facilities needs.

  • We prepare detailed cost estimates and budgets for both the entitlement process and the land development operation, including all development impact fees.

  • We prepare a detailed project schedule and timeline for the project's business plan.

  • We prepare a complete financial package, including income statements, cash flows and capital requirements.

  • We review all legal documents, including title reports and underlying documents.

  • We meet with our project manager to review the completed project report and its findings.

  • Finally, immediately prior to closing, we conduct a bringdown due diligence, to determine if any project assumptions have changed. Then, and only then, do we acquire the project.


DEVELOPMENT USING KNOWLEDGE AND DISCIPLINE

Just as there's no one "right-size" project for Hillcrest Homes, there's no one "right kind" of project either. That's not to say that we're indiscriminate in our project selections. To the contrary. Thorough analysis and tough fiscal benchmarks are hallmarks of every development decision we make.

But we apply the same set of knowledge and discipline tools to every project we consider -- whether it's a from-the-start project in which our management of the entitlement process will determine the outcome, or the acquisition of a property where the entitlement process has been completed but market factors have dictated a new approach to land development.

At Hillcrest Homes, we know how to recognize both risks and opportunities, on both the entitlements and market fronts. And, we know how to minimize the risks and maximize the opportunities. It's all a matter of knowledge and discipline.

PROJECT OVERVIEW