Architecture & Real Estate Investing

[John Barkenhagen]

I know investing in real estate does not require any specific background, but I am curious how the mind of an Architect effects real estate investing for the good or bad.

I am currently working for a small firm and looking to start taking the ARE tests soon.

[Nik Moushon]

@John Barkenhagen

10 years in the profession here and just about the finish up my testing. 

An architect that understands investing (even better if they invest themselves) is a huge asset to a team and is under rated IMO (i know, obviously a little bias haha). But what people dont seem to understand is that architects are not drafters. We dont just put lines on paper. We problem solvers and master coordinators....or at least should be. We coordinate just as many people as a GC does....different scales and different jobs but just as many. So with that coordination requires a tactful skill of dealing with people.

What people really miss that that you have a huge list of connections that most people will never get. Connections to other white collar professionals that most GC's dont even have. You'll even have a decent amount of blue collar professional connections as well. But where the connections really shine is when you go to dealing with the cities and jurisdictions. I dont know how many time I get a completely different tone of voice, willingness to help, and a meaningful effort of finding a solution that works once city officials find out I'm an architect and not just another random investor, local home owner or a GC. 

I think is the biggest missed opportunity in our profession though, is that we dont start enough investment/development projects as the Owner/Architect. So much time and money is saved when we dont have a client and GC combat us for changes and costs cutting "VE" items that almost never end up saving that much money. Getting to control the design based on how we want the end product to be used and interacted with, how it effects the environment and how it enhances the local community versus just getting as much profit as possible is something architects dream of for a client like that. But yet they seem to not even think twice that they could be their own dream client. 

I will say, that the architect value definitely scales up better with the size increase of the project. Hiring an architect for every little project is not necessarily got to be a value add. But, since you are, soon, going to be an architect you can start teaching yourself how you can better help your investor clients and learn how you can start investing yourself. Architects dream of changing the world for the better one building at a time. But they sit at their desks waiting for that multi-millionaire philanthropist to just walk in their door and never realize they can start making their own changes.