Find your Real Estate Development Mentor

Everyone asks me What is the quickest way to become successful in real estate development?
The answer is pretty simple, find yourself a Real Estate Mentor.

There is no need to re-write the rule book! You can still be innovative and creative with your developments and take control of the project, however there are still key skills and knowledge which are developed with years of experience before becoming a successful developer.

What I have found is that you can add years of experience and catapult you to success simply by allowing a mentor to lead the way. This advice can be applied to any industry you may wish to pursue, however lets apply this to people starting in real estate development.

A real estate mentor can find the right builder, warn you of potential risks to a development site, find the right property development finance package, or make sure you have the right property development partnership agreements in place. These points alone can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars on a project which the novice developer usually learns the hard way.

Example 1:
Mr & Mrs Reno - builder was ripping them off, 12 month time delays, and home extensions incomplete. They were quoted as saying: "I am losing sleep over this!"
If only they had consulted a real estate mentor BEFORE they started the project, they would have saved over $200,000 in costs, and got a lot more sleep!

Example 2:
Mr Townhouse - Had a property with potential to build extra dwellings. He thought 1 extra dwelling was possible.
If only he had appointed a real estate mentor, he could have found out the property could allow an extra 5 dwellings! Thats about $300,000 in extra returns he missed out on.

So make sure you get good advice, and more importantly seek out the professional guys in real estate, the ones who walk the walk and talk the talk. I personally have a real estate mentor whom I check in with all the time to make sure I am making the right moves in real estate development, and I must say, its one of the keys to my success.

Good luck, and happy mentor hunting.

Loan Industry Improving

Wow! what a year in lending. Two years after the first shakes of the finance industry, and we are now seeing signs of improvement in commercial finance and property development.

Whilst development finance has nearly dissappeared entirely, lenders are just starting to find some money to allocate to the high risk area of lending. Commercial lenders are still shy of any risk, however there are still a few cashed up lenders willing, although rates are high.

I have 3 mainstream lenders who have shown interest in a good deal, with a few fringe lenders asking for a crack at a project. The catch is, the deal has to be spotless, good margin, presales, good asset position and plenty of fat in it.

Watch this space, we will keep you informed in the coming months on new sources and the new processes of securing finance for your property project.