It seems to me that everyone wants to develop…
Until they’ve actually developed –
Because it isn’t that easy!
At the height of the last cycle, when acquisition and construction financing was easy to come by, almost anyone and everyone was buying a site, hiring an architect and building a building – Or at least trying their luck at it.
But developing is a skill set that very few have.
It is not for the faint of heart.
The risk of capital loss that’s associated with developing and the patience and hard work that it takes to execute a successful project is often underestimated.
Amazingly, becoming a developer is a career that you don’t need a college degree or a license for.
If you have the money, you can try your hand at it!
One look around Manhattan, at the foreclosed, abandoned and half-built projects, it’s easy to see how one should be cautionary.
But in this resilient city, there are always dreamers and risk takers.
Lately, there has been a swift uptick in the activity of development sites starting to trade. New and old faces are surfacing, looking to take advantage of a market that has been silent for awhile.
Let’s hope that some of these seasoned builders have learned lessons from their past mistakes and that the intentions of the younger entrepreneurs take heed.
Stay tuned…