How do I go about finding a real estate development partner who has experience with redeveloping industrial buildings into mixed use residential?

I co-founded and owned what became the 13th largest Century 21 franchise in the USA. I did the majority of the training. We hired hundreds of new and experienced agents each year maintaining an average active agent count of around 95 in our single office. Here is some of the advice I gave each prospective or new recruit. 1. Make sure you have a cash reserve to cover your personal and real estate business overhead for 3-6 months. 2. Treat your real estate business like you are in business for yourself even though you are not by yourself. Sound business principles still apply. 3. Networking and relationship nurturing are the keys to the kingdom. Prospect, prospect, prospect. (The agents that were proactively prospecting for clients were three to four times more successful than the ones that merely placed ads and waited for the phone to ring.) 4. Avoid the busy-work-trap. That is, do all the non-income producing work during non-prime time hours. If you can be prospecting, showing property or writing contracts, do it. Don't organize your desk, configure your CRM, write your ads, etc., in lieu of the activities that will earn your income. This happens more frequently than you might think. 5. Ignore the naysayers. My best agents earned between $250,000 and $500,000 regardless of the housing market or economy. Ironically, some of them were "intentional" naysayers. It was part of their strategy to discourage the new people. 6. Become a student of the business. Attend every conference available. Read every book. Listen to the CD's/DVD's on how to master the art of selling real estate (to borrow a title from Tom Hopkins). I've traveled the country training real estate agents & brokers. Give me a call if you have any further questions or would like a coach to accelerate your learning curve and success rate. All the best! Kevin McCarthy

I've been a commercial real estate broker for 5 years now and have ventured into a handful of business partnerships - some have worked and some have nearly ruined me. What I find, on a surface level, is that you must absolutely share the same VALUES and MISSION as your potential partner. Having even stake in the game also helps, as it avoids one partner eventually grabbing "the upper hand". If you are not bringing cash or equity to the table, be prepared to demonstrate how your hard work can be translated into $ value. If you have more detailed scenarios or questions, feel free to bounce them off me at anytime. Cheers! -S.

There are lots of unexpected costs with land development and new construction. Examples include soft costs (arch, engineering, surveying, permit costs, etc) and hard costs (connecting utilities, clearing land, etc). Always have a reasonable buffer to take into account any unexpected costs. Best of luck!

Of course and have in the past.. With FB's Open graph search you can laser target buyers and weed out tire kickers.. This is a no brainer :)

This should help you out: 1. Property Development for Beginners: A Beginners Guide to Property Development by Steve Chandler http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1482580551/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1482580551&linkCode=as2&tag=pittspropedea-20">Property Development for Beginners: A Beginners Guide to Property Development</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=pittspropedea-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1482580551 2. Real Estate Development: Principles and Process by Mike E. Miles http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874209714/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0874209714&linkCode=as2&tag=pittspropedea-20">Real Estate Development: Principles and Process</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=pittspropedea-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0874209714 3. http://www.masterycoachingterence.com/