Fight, Flight or Freeze?

[Chanelle Henry]

16 years ago I inherited land in downtown Philadelphia and I can see the trends building in this area and know that it's only going to become a more affluent neighborhood. My question or concern is that I know what I want to build, a commercial space on the first floor, student living on the second, and a nice house on the top floor that would be an Airbnb property. Right now it's just dirt, and I've done some homework and it's going to cost about 10k to get the drawings from the architect, and about 350k to build, but the revenue model I have figured out should make this a lucrative property. My concerns are, how can I earn money in the meantime while it's just a lot? Should I team up with a real estate investor or wait until I can do this myself? Will it be hard to manage this property if I don't live in this city? I know this question may be dumb, but should I sell it and try to invest in another lucrative venture? Should I try to buy property around me or is that a full time type of thing? For those in the Philly area, it's at 12th and Wallace as a reference point. There are two student housing next to me and I'm 5 blocks away from City Hall. I feel this is a goldmine if done right but I'm overwhelmed and not caught up with the education of real estate. Please help!

[Ethan Giller]

Congrats, sounds like you have a great starting point to start your investing in Philly!

But personally, I would not personally recommend a mixed-use, ground-up construction project for your first investment.  Especially if you are thinking about combining three niche investment strategies into a single property (commercial, student housing, Airbnb).

You will most likely make as much (or more) money by selling the land to another developer who already is already doing new construction in that area and has a crew lined up.  Whoever you sell it to is likely to either a) have a crew lined up who can build much more cheaply than you can if it's your first time, or b) overpay because they don't know what they are doing.

Just my opinion of how to maximize your profit and minimize your headache.  Then take the money you get from the sale of the lot and do some smaller deals.