As an independent agent you will be responsible for finding and developing your own leads which will take time.  

@Joe DaikerThe Rollover as Business Startup what Mark mentions appropriate if you are looking to personally start a real estate development company and produce current income for yourself.If your goal is to achieve better tax-sheltered growth for your retirement savings by investing in what you know, a passive Solo 401k would be a different approach.  

Charles, so far you have good opinions based on what others experience in their locations, perhaps averages, that's really not where you start to develop a model. 

It was/is in the heart of midtown Atlanta, right across from Piedmont Park and the newly developed Beltline.

Well as the sweat started to develop on my forehead I reached for my phone to shut the ringer off because my son was calling and in the progress as I was telling them my offer I dropped the phone and my iPad both at the same time.

Any Lad developers out there that can take a second a let me know it would be appreciated.Larry F

I have been to Houston a couple of times and think the city is developing well.

Once you have adopted your own pricing structures, its an easy for to develop from.  

The developer that built that building, instead of coming up with the needed capital to buy the land and then develop it, can cut his capital needs greatly by leasing the land with the rights to build on it.  

Then I would look at the future land use map and how strong is the county and or city economic development and are they pro-growth?