Career Switch to Developer

[Nicholas Griffin]

Hello all,

Currently working in law and would like to make the jump into Residential/Commercial RE Development in the next 4-5 years.  I have a basic understanding of the financial and regulatory side of things and feel comfortable working through problems from that side of the business but am going to likely struggle with the industry network and general workflow of a project.  

My plan is to act as General Contractor for my own house and really cut my teeth on the process and get general feel for the process in real time (I imagine there is difference between reading about the steps and process and actually managing a project through each step).

Here is my question - how much more comfortable should I be after managing the build of my own house? Is it realistic to expect that I will be able to go on and build a larger project (6 townhouse community)?  What are some other ways I can prepare myself?

Any advice is appreciated.