I want to be a real estate developer

[Kevin Alexander]

Hi everyone,

I'll get straight to the point. I've worked a number of jobs over the years (all kinds of manual labor, listing agent), but have always been interested in real estate development. Why? Without going into too much detail I enjoy wearing many hats and interacting with so many different people. I like coming up with an idea for either barren land or dissipated property and turning it into something extraordinary. My main concern is how do I even get started? Obviously I will need to arrange financing from investors, rough plans from engineers, architects, etc, but I don't even know where to begin. Also, I don't really care much about money, but I need enough to survive. How is that supposed to work out? As you can see, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I want to learn. Any books I should read to get started? Should I try to start out working under a contractor to learn the ends and outs? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Sid Leibowitz]

Hello Kevin. I do not know hold old you are? I have been in the real estate, construction, architect, development industry and flip houses. It sounds like you are looking for a career and you need to have an education and then a position in an associated aspect that provides you exposure to development. It took around 30 years for my first development deal. I came through the ranks of construction. This is not an overnight whim. Its like a brain surgeon. How many years for that? Try going on line and see what university can supply you with a bachelors and the cost of that. I believe that would be the first step in obtaining a position in the industry today. This takes years to establish yourself. Best, Sid