I need experience...

[Ryan McElroy]

My ultimate goal is to develop massive condominiums or apartment complexes for profit and investment purposes. I dont have much experience in development yet, just some entry level knowledge as a commercial real estate agent. My question is...

What job would give me the most/best exposure to real estate development so i can educate myself while earning a living? (im currently 25 yo)

Should i work for a developer as an acquisitions and development associate, work as a lender for a bank so i'm exposed to many deals, go back to school and get an MBA with a focus in real estate, work as a property manager learning how to manage a property...

I need the education so i feel confident and safe injecting my own money into multimillion dollar projects

[Elizabeth Wilson]

@Ryan McElroy - Great big goals! I love it! Start looking for work in exactly the field you want to be in: multifamily development. You will learn the business from the inside and start networking with others in the field. Find out who your local players are an send them each a personalized cover letter and resume and then start networking at local REI meetings to see who knows who. I'm sure there are development companies who would love to have someone on board and eager to learn and to grow. I know I would!

Do not bother with an MBA.  Anything you would learn there, you can learn on your own or on the job or from a mentor.  

Keep us posted and best of luck!!

[Michael P.]

Yep get in with a development company.  Just go get real world actual experience on the construction process.  Work your way up in that company, start as a grunt if needed.  The cream always rises to the top, so if you are excellent you will be running crews, finding subs, or something of that nature very quickly.  Development is going nuts right now they are always looking for talent.  

[Mark Mathews]

If you want to develop massive condominiums as an employee of a big company, sure, get your degree and apply for your dream job.

If you want to develop massive condominiums as an entrepreneur, your path will be different. Get an education in real estate investing. There are several ways to do this. You can read books and spend time watching vlog posts here on BP as a start. As you put more and more mental energy into learning from other investors, your frame of mind will begin to shift away from the "employee" thinking toward "business" thinking. You should change from being a consumer toward being an entrepreneur.

You may even consider at some point paying for some mentoring or other training program. (I'm not selling anything, just sharing my thoughts.) I look at that type of program as an investment the same way others consider University an investment. The difference is that your purpose in this case is to go into business for yourself, whereas most who go to university intend to work for someone else.

Hope that helps.

[Scott Choppin]

@Ryan McElroy

As a developer in training, you want a job that exposes you to the maximum amount of the development cycle with the maximum possible learning velocity (time and speed). You will need to learn all of these components of a development deal: land acquisition, site selection and sourcing, zoning and entitlements, architectural design management, deal underwriting, financing, construction, leasing, property management, and sale or asset management. 

I would suggest working for companies that already develop the types of projects that you are ambitious to build in the future. For example, I come from a family of real estate developers, but I was ambitious to learn rapidly and work for others in the MF development domain, so I obtained my first job (asst. project manager) for a division of KB Home (Kaufman and Broad Multi-Housing) that developed in-house apartment projects. I started as a rookie APM, and left there as a seasoned senior project manager running the entire project myself from finding the land to putting the project into long term asset management phase. This gave me the exposure to all aspects of a development deal on multiple larger ground up development deals.

Your likely job title will be: assistant project manager, analyst, development associate. Whatever it is, you will be working for a more seasoned project manager or senior project manager. Know this: that person is worth their weight in gold, and can be the primary person that you run things past or ask questions as you move through your day. My best days, were when I would be tasked with managing a project (or part of it) and could at the end of the day ask a TON of questions about how to do it, what happened, what went wrong, what could be done better, and what could be done better than anyone else. I used to carpool home with a very seasoned PM, and we would be in the car together for 1-2 hours each day, and that poor guy got squeezed dry like a sponge by me for knowledge and information. He and I sill laugh about it today, but damn that was the best learning I ever did. 

One caveat, it will take some time. I spent over 5 years working for others, before deciding it was time to go out and form my own company. One other caveat, different than the advice above, I would NOT work for a company in a construction role. You want to focus on a job that is directly related to development. Nothing against construction roles, they are necessary, and you will be exposed to construction as a development PM, but you don't want to spend 3 years in a construction role, then try to move to development. Plus, if you need to move companies, the new company will see you as a construction guy. That's why you will need to work for a larger company, they have jobs that are specifically related to development. An alternative could be that you intern for a small company, with the express purpose of gaining development experience, or at least that's how you should communicate it to them. You may have to work for free or at low cost to the small company, as they will be very sensitive to cash flow and costs.

The development business is one of the most complicated businesses that I know of combined with risk in land markets, underwriting, financing, and construction. While each component part is not overly hard to understand, there's a ton of steps, and each step has risk embedded in it AND you are dealing with people all along the way: brokers, land sellers, planners, politicians, bankers, construction folks, renters, property managers, and buyers. So your ability to both understand the process better than anyone else AND to convince other people to go your way, agree to allow you to do your project, or support your project with investment, is of paramount importance. 

If you want to see the process in action, see my thread about a real world example from our development portfolio.

I am an offer of help, feel free to reach out if needed with questions.

Thanks

Scott

[Warren Currier]

Originally posted by @Ryan McElroy:

My ultimate goal is to develop massive condominiums or apartment complexes for profit and investment purposes. I dont have much experience in development yet, just some entry level knowledge as a commercial real estate agent. My question is...

What job would give me the most/best exposure to real estate development so i can educate myself while earning a living? (im currently 25 yo)

Should i work for a developer as an acquisitions and development associate, work as a lender for a bank so i'm exposed to many deals, go back to school and get an MBA with a focus in real estate, work as a property manager learning how to manage a property...

I need the education so i feel confident and safe injecting my own money into multimillion dollar projects

[Warren Currier]

Ryan, 

Recently I was looking at the question you asked elsewhere: Should I Build an Apartment Complex or simply purchase something already out there, and will add a couple of thoughts from what I've collected on my own journey thus far.

Where you are matters because these issues are location specific.

If you were where I am today in South Shore, Massachusetts, I'd be able to suggest certain developments that I like (for whatever reason) and then I hit it all hard: Go deep into these companies, 'how did it all start?', ask, 'who are the original players? See what you can learn from the multitude of stories that are out there. From that track, which can be as deep and wide as you care to make it, I'd start to look at the competitors of each of these players. Perhaps doing one search whereby you enter a few of their names at the same time, will yield a number of different lists; Do they belong to the same associations? Are they LEEDS CERTIFIED? I can think of many ways to approach this, the lead-yield will be prolific. Again, the WHERE? piece, matters.

Another angle I'd attack is this:

Find some really cool building that you like ANYWHERE in the world.  First:  How do you find them? 

I like to enter ANYTHING into a Google search and then click on 'images'. Pictures are powerful! And then scroll down and see what grabs you. Why do this?

When you see something that makes you say to yourself, "Wow, I dream of doing something like this in my lifetime!" then you click on it and learn 'all you can' in five minutes.

Take THAT information and consider WHO among these people you'd like to talk to.

For example: 

You love the design concept so you learn about the architect(s) and the designer(s), the developer, the dreamer, the mastermind.... !!

Find the stories that tell how this project came to be. Many stories.

Stories vary.

Call people up and tell them that your looking for a developer for a project in XXX part of US. (I'm assuming US is your outer geographical boundary today)

These design people may assist you with some ideas and they may also ask about the details of your project.

Tell them with confidence, "I'm going to be building a eight story building overlooking the Atlantic ocean just outside of Providence, Rhode Island". 

Don't primarily say, "I don't know".

If funding is mentioned I'd offer little, "A combination of private money and one particular New York bank".

You build the network as you go and you do it all so that it benefits YOU the same day you make the calls.

Where does this all lead?

Message me here and I'll give you an introduction to a guy who's building one of the coolest projects in the entire country. 

I'm new to BP yet I do not think it'll be too hard for me to figure out how to get a message from you.

This time last year I stayed in a wonderful hotel in Lisbon and I've committed to build something similar here. I have found the land (over the Atlantic Ocean) and I am in contact with the brains behind the operation there. The one who first conceived it all in his mind.

My project is a longterm affair as I need to quietly buy multiple parcels over a long time horizon in order to build what I see in my hear. I do not want outside financing as I am able to proceed with my own capital.

I think you get the idea.

In addition: I have read many great responses HERE, to your post.  Some seem more useful than others.

You are an investor and you need to know everything you can about the entire process. Going to school is not your 'best move' at this point. Your in a different league. Learning and school will be ongoing.  When you are reading to commit to doing this you will find that 'School is everywhere you want it to be.

[Fradel Schaechter]

Originally posted by @Elizabeth Wilson

...Find out who your local players are an send them each a personalized cover letter and resume and then start networking at local REI meetings to see who knows who. I'm sure there are development companies who would love to have someone on board and eager to learn and to grow. I know I would!

Do not bother with an MBA.  Anything you would learn there, you can learn on your own or on the job or from a mentor.  

Keep us posted and best of luck!!

I like that advice, helps me too as I try to figure out a great way to get a job in the field I am interested in.

[Fradel Schaechter]

@Michael P. I appreciate your comment about the cream always rising to the top. I know I can be an asset wherever I work and I am just waiting for the opportunity to show what I can do. Hope I get there soon!

@Ryan McElroy- Hope you get a great job soon! I would also say to try to get a job first, with aggressive efforts for a few weeks before paying for an expensive degree.

@Scott Choppin and @Warren Currier- what detailed responses. Thanks for providing value to the rest of us here on BP!