Hit the real estate jackpot...now what?

[Charles Lewis]

So, long story short, I inherited a piece of land in a downtown residential area of a highly desirable city from a distant relative. It's a prime location for a house. I've gotten multiple offers for it already and will likely sell it in the next little while. Many of the interested buyers are developers/builders. Obviously, if they bought it, they'd just build and sell. That being the case, there's clearly additional equity potential in the property outside the value of the land - there's the development component.

Let's say I can sell it for $125,000. I can do that, take the cash and walk away. Super easy and less than a few hours of work. Alternatively I could build a 2500 sq/ft house on it for, say, $125 a sq/ft (estimate...I could be way off on that number), and sell it for $200 a sq/ft. Sales price of $500,000 minus construction costs of $312,500 would net me in the ballpark of $187,500. Obviously, there's a lot more time/effort/risk involved in building, but for an additional $62,500 it seems like it might be worth the effort.

What say you, BiggerPockets? Take the easy money or take the riskier path with potential for more coin.