The first thing to know is that you don’t become a successful real estate developer overnight. It takes time to acquire and develop the skills and knowledge essential to real estate development. But how you go about gaining the skills and knowledge, and how you apply them, can influence how long it takes before you realise your first successful development. Even if it happens to be a relatively small development.
A formal qualification is not needed but having a Certificate IV in Property Services or a Bachelor of Property and Real Estate–or similar–will give you a solid foundation in many of the financial, legal, and risk management aspects of real estate development.
Every property developer’s path to success is different, but some of the traits and skills used along the way are common to all developers.
Improve Your Knowledge of the Area
There are tools that help you find prime properties for development, be it undeveloped sites or developed sites that are suitable for something new and more profitable. But these tools work best when combined with actual knowledge of the area too. It’s not all about areas that are growing, you also need to be able to recognise changes in movement patterns and current and planned zonings.
Foster Strong Industry Relationships
Being a successful real estate developer is not a solo venture. As skilled and knowledgeable you might be, strong relationships with other skilled people will still shape your success. From talented lawyers, contractors, architects, and even civil engineers, through to relationships with town planners, sources of equity, and potential buyers or renters. The skill of your network–whether the people are part of your team, or just advisers–can have a significant impact on your success.
Develop for the Market, Not Yourself
Don’t allow your or your architect’s personal taste influence what you develop. Using the right tools, your due diligence will not only account for your budget, but it will also allow you to decide what development would be most profitable–taking multiple variables relating to the local market into account. And with Archistar’s generative design capabilities, you can work through dozens of designs and layouts that can then be refined within the confines of your budget and the needs of the market.
Use the Right Tools
The right tools not only unlock a wealth of data relating to the areas you want to develop in, but they also make it easier to work through the data to find the best opportunities. With Archistar you are not only able to filter sites by zoning, building type, floor space ratio, and maximum building height, you also immediately have access to planning rules; heritage, flood, bushfire, and other overlays; along with sale, rental, and planned development insights into the area around the site.
Request a free demo of the Archistar platform to discover the potential it has in accelerating your path from real estate developer to successful real estate developer.
