Homework Help: Land acquisition relating to the construction of a high rise?

Also If it’s a dorm, I assume it needs to be near a university or college. Some land is not suitable for a large building without putting down a lot of extra foundation which will drive your cost up, so you will also want to look at soil substrate. In addition, look at zoning laws in the area. Some zones don’t allow multi-unit housing. Are you making allowances for parking? Also, consider how close your land is to shopping, bus routes, etc.

That’s a big subject. You have a good professor!

I work with real estate, here are the items I look at (which are specific to my job, this may or may not be useful to you)

The county recorder has the records of deeds, mortgages, etc.
I go to the the recorder’s web site to find out who owns the property and if they have a mortgage

The county assessor determines the value of the properyty
I go the the assessor’s web site to see if the property is residential/commercial/condo/single family home/etc

The county treasurer collects taxes
I go the treasurer’s site to see how much taxes are per year and if the owner is paid up

There are lots of other aspects, it’s complicated. But that means few people understand what is going on, and if you study up and master the subject, you have a HUGE advantage over others.

Have fun and good luck!

You are going to need to work with the city to see if you can acquire city land at low cost or with city funding. You are going to need to work with the state to see if you can float a bond issue to finance the purchase of the land and the construction. You are going to need to do an impact study to determine how the dorm is going to affect the neighborhood, traffic patterns, parking, etc. Because you are planning on building a high rise building you are going to need to check all of the zoning laws to see if the high rises are allowed in that area. If not, you are going to need to know how you get zoning changed. If you cannot get zoning changed, and need to build lower buildings, how is that going to impact the amount of land that you will require? What will be the economic impact of adding residences to the area—are there enough support services in the area for the number of residents you will be adding – restaurants, coffee houses, bookstores, bars, etc.? What will be the impact on area crime by adding residents to the area?