All Forum Posts by: Kristi Kandel

@Matthew Gentile if you are trying to be an architect, engineer, attorney, etc additional education is helpful. If you would like to be a developer you don’t need to hold any certificates or licenses. 

I’ve been a RE developer the past 17 years with a majority of my career developing hundreds of projects in California. 2-30 acre developments for commercial, industrial, and residential projects. Our industry does a terrible job at sharing information and educating others. The institutional courses on development aren’t practical to real life development and how it actually works. 

If you DM me I can send you links to free monthly webinars we host on RE development. I also started an education company with a full development course using my 10,000 hours of expertise to teach others how to be local developers in their community. 

1. Local Real Estate Developer: We empower local entrepreneurs and investors to transform underutilized properties into awesome community assets that benefit all.

@Aj Bellamah Unless you get a very robust system you are left with manually tracking OR customizing your own CRM. My companies use Wrike and we custom built out our projects and tasks to meet each company's needs. That allows us to have dashboards and when a task shows up it needs started that day. Whether it's checking the permit status at the AHJ, notifying us to send an annual rent increase notice, collecting tenant insurance, etc. You can start small/MVP/proof of concept and build out the system as you go using Wrike, Monday.com, Asana, etc. It was a game changer for our company and is incredibly robust now. 

 Hey Ilan! I've been a nationwide developer for the past 17 years. 

Are you entitling smaller pieces of land that one developer could then take over and pull building permits, construct all of the ROW infrastructure and utilities, and build either housing, commercial, or industrial? 

Or are you subdividing larger pieces of land 25+ acres and creating multiple smaller parcels 3-10 acres that developers could then take over and build out? 

Or are you subdividing the land into smaller parcels and building the roads and utilities infrastructure so builders could come in and start building SFH on each new lot?

Or something else? Each scenario requires different skill sets and partners. 

 @Kesha Hamilton You're welcome! This is why we are building out resources. To help people in your position because it's 100% possible for anyone to become a developer, you just need the right resources and partners.  

 @Karen Margrave awesome summary! We actually just did a free webinar (local real estate developers) focused on the fact that developers don't need licenses or certifications BUT they do need strategic partners with those and their expertise to complete projects. A link to the webinar replay for "Accelerating Your Returns: The 5 Key Partnerships You Need in Real Estate" is right here:
https://localdeveloper.kartra.com/videopage/w82BcHbARuZa

 @Kenneth Bell thank you! I was just explaining to someone the other day about how land is priced for development / redevelopment and why there typically aren't sales prices on those listings. Being a developer means you find the highest and best use for a piece of property. EVERYONE has a different idea of what that highest and best use could be based on their experience and experience along with the AHJ's allowed uses in the zoning/probability of rezoning. 

With that being said, since there are so many variables that exactly why a property owner would be shooting themselves in the foot if they set an asking price b/c their idea of what the highest and best use might be might not actually be the actual best use. 

For example lets take a paved parking lot:

1. You could rent it to a food truck to use 1x a week for $100 a day or $400 a month

2. You could rent it to a plumbing company to park their vehicles for $1200 a month

3. You could build a flex-space building for the plumbing company to relocate their office and warehouse AND have enough parking and now you get 5-10K a month or more in rent. 

Each way you're making money on the property, it just depends upon the type of use you can envision. Each scenario would change how much each person could pay for the land to make it profitable for them.  

 @Joanne Kim you could look for a developer or a general contractor since the lots appear to be small multi-family. There are local RE groups that you could post the details into. I'd also suggest driving the immediate area and seeing who else is building in that neighborhood. Then speak with the contractor and owner of the property to see if they are interested in building on those lots. 

You could be super creative in how to take down those deals / structure the deal so that you could stay in the project longer and see more of the returns from the deals once they are built. 

By finding the people currently building similar projects in the area they are more likely to know how to get funding right now and how to make the deal structure work for today's market. 

 @Kesha Hamilton 

1. Start with calling the planning dept at the city to define the zoning and allowed density

2. Work with the city and local brokers to identify the exact product type to meet the housing needs of the area. (Apartments, townhouses, condos, etc.)

3. Run the numbers in the UW to see how big of a gap you have for new construction of those units

4. Talk to planning at the city about available funds they for housing projects like TIFs, CRAs, Housing vouchers, housing grants, etc.

5. Repeat that research at the county and state levels.

6 review all info vs your UW and see if there is a land value above $0 that makes the deal work in today’s market.

7. potentially consider a JV project with the property owner after doing the above as a way to make the deal work.

Separately, you'll want to make sure that you've engaged your strategic partners. Brokers (versed in these development deals to help you negotiate the right contract terms), Lenders willing to fund a construction and permanent loan, architects & engineers vs in land development to help site plan the project, contractors to price the project to help dial in your UW. 

I've been a RE developer for 17 years working on projects nationwide. Building the right team of strategic partners is key to effectively completing development/new construction projects. It's simple but it's not easy.

If you shoot me a DM I'll send you information about our upcoming Free webinars and other resources we've created to empower local entrepreneurs and investors to transform underutilized properties into awesome community assets that benefit all.

 @Alex Larcheveque I've been a RE developer for 17 years and a lot of my career was in CA and a ton of work in LA City/LA County. Building the right team of strategic partners is key to effectively completing development/new construction projects. It's simple but it's not easy. 

If you shoot me a DM I'll send you information about a Free webinar we are hosting Wednesday since it's about team building and strategic partners. 

CA has the most red tape along with some parts of the PNW, NE US and a few other areas in the country. However, I've built my career in those markets so I know it's entirely feasible. 

Separately, find people in your community who are already doing it. Volunteer/Intern with them to learn how they do things. If you are adding value to other groups you'll have doors open that allow you to learn the ropes on other people's deals vs on your own and potentially losing a lot of money and getting way too many grey hairs and wrinkles ;) 

The 5 Key Partnerships You Need in Real Estate 🏘️🌟 Mark your calendars for Wednesday May 15th, at 1 PM EST!

Things we'll cover:

1. Expertise - It’s not what you know; it’s who you know!

2. Opportunities - The right partners open the right doors.

3. Money Matters - Two wallets are better than one, right?

4. Risk - Friends don’t let friends invest blindly.

5. Networks - Because your network influences your net worth.