Becoming a real estate developer?

[Marlon Thomas Jr]

Hello BiggerPockets Family,

Right now I am currently 22 years of age, and I am a licensed residential Realtor. Prior to earning my license, I have always been fascinated by real estate development and my ultimate goal is to become a real estate developer. Commercial Buy & Holds is something I want to do as well. I was thinking I could eventually start with small scale projects like flipping houses for a few years to get my feet wet while simultaneously networking with other investors. Then eventually move into small scale commercial renovations through a joint venture and finally move into ground-up commercial development also starting out as a joint venture. 

Yes, I know I have a very long ways to go as this is a career move I plan to make much further down the road. Personally, I am not interested in going thousands of dollars in debt to attend a traditional four year university. With that being said, I understand education is very important, but college isn't for me. Although a certificate program would be more ideal for me. While there are so many different paths to take to become a developer, I was curious to know if any of you may think this plan could work if done properly? Also, would the Urban Land Institute be a great place to learn as a member? 

[Greg Dickerson]

Originally posted by @Marlon Thomas Jr:

Hello BiggerPockets Family,

Right now I am currently 22 years of age, and I am a licensed residential Realtor. Prior to earning my license, I have always been fascinated by real estate development and my ultimate goal is to become a real estate developer. Commercial Buy & Holds is something I want to do as well. I was thinking I could eventually start with small scale projects like flipping houses for a few years to get my feet wet while simultaneously networking with other investors. Then eventually move into small scale commercial renovations through a joint venture and finally move into ground-up commercial development also starting out as a joint venture. 

Yes, I know I have a very long ways to go as this is a career move I plan to make much further down the road. Personally, I am not interested in going thousands of dollars in debt to attend a traditional four year university. With that being said, I understand education is very important, but college isn't for me. Although a certificate program would be more ideal for me. While there are so many different paths to take to become a developer, I was curious to know if any of you may think this plan could work if done properly? Also, would the Urban Land Institute be a great place to learn as a member? 

You definitely do not need a college degree to be a real estate developer but it can help if you are the scholarly type.I was not. I did not got to college. I started with no money, no backing and no connections. I learned by educating myself, doing deals and scaling up to $250 million. I built it from the ground up pretty much how you are envisioning but using my own cash from my businesses vs doing JV deals. the ULI courses are pretty basic but they are cheap so they can't hurt. One thing to emphasize is the financials. The key to successful development deals is the financials. You want to study and learn financing, raising capital, using and building Proforma etc.