Purchase price: $765,000 Cash invested: $144,000 Sale price: $1,440,150 Contributors: Vlad Tselnik This midcentury home with a modern flare boasts an abundance of natural light and enough character to last a lifetime.

The second thing that needs to be done is to determine if the use you want to develop can be permitted and if so, define the process that gets it entitled along with the time and cost associated with getting it to a shovel-ready project.If development truly interests you, I strongly suggest that you learn the nomenclature (language) of CRE and ground-up development along with its metrics (measurements of performance) before you spend much time or money chasing a site down.  

Id also throw in a rental license fee and potential for snow shoveling unless thats on the PM. 

Hanging Christmas lights...shoveling snow if that is a thing where you live, cleaning windows, if you have a truck...delivery service.....girl Friday type work--personal concierge. 

People, shovels, wheel barrows, clean fill, dump truck rental, etc.Unless there's a legal reason to remove it, might be cheaper to drain it, cover it, and leave it.

I get a new snow shovel and bucket of ice melt for each porch.

Things are tightening here in Houston on condo sales, so I want the flexibility to execute the development if things look good at that shovel-ready point...or not, if they don't.These two "humble SFH's" are not insurable (at least I don't think).

The light coming through the trees causing a little lens flare is something a lot of photographers will do on purpose!

Even if you want building lots on the west coast.. to take them from farm land to shovel ready is a 2 year to 3 year process.. so our buildable lots today are one's we started on in 2013 to 2014.. were money was still very tight. so at least for my little part of the world I agree with you...

@Keith Bloemendaal   you guys are spoiled... takes us 1 to 2 years minimum start to finish from farmers field to shovel ready lots... permits take 30 to 60 days min.