Transitioning from Economic Development to Real Estate Development?
I know this is an odd question. I have a background in Transportation and Urban Planning for the better part of 7 years, and have switched to Economic Development for the last year. While I am making good money, I feel like I am fairly close to topping out for public sector work. Having worked on the other end of the table in terms of regulatory and incentivizing commercial development I have become more interested in RED. I was wondering if anyone has seen a transition from what I’ve done and what I could do to shore myself up? I am currently working on my PMP which I do believe would help at some point.
[{"id": "h1f3xps", "text": "I worked in ED when I was starting my RED company. I found the two to have a number of similarities. They both require strong communication skills, the ability to manage multiple stakeholders and vendors and both are frequently time sensitive and project based.  The biggest difference is shifting from a public sector mentality to a private sector mentality where the emphasis is on efficiency and profitability. If I were you I would highlight these overlapping skills when interviewing.", "replies": [{"id": "h1f8edr", "text": "Thanks. Did you feel like you were behind the curve in areas like finance?", "replies": [{"id": "h1fa2qs", "text": "My situation was a little different. I had been in real estate for a while before launching my own company  and I worked in ED while I was building up enough revenue to survive on my own. So I had a lot of the background already.   Finance is definitely an area that would be different but finding a good real estate finance class could solve that.", "replies": [{"id": "h1i29x5", "text": "Out of curiosity - can you recommend a good real estate finance class?", "replies": [{"id": "h1iblt8", "text": "The MIT Center for Real Estate historically has great classes that anyone can take.  Not sure if they provide them online or not.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h1fohcg", "text": "If you can survive and thrive in public sector for 7 years, there's nothing you can't do in private.", "replies": [{"id": "h1i1ioq", "text": "Agreed. I do RED for the federal government and the number of hurdles you have to go through is only comparable to an Olympic track athlete.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h1fpkge", "text": "pick a developer you have worked with who knows you and ask for a lunch to discuss.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h1g2kvy", "text": "What is it you want to do in Development? Underworking, project management, acquisitions? \nI would suggestion taking an excel RE modeling course and then start looking into Affordable Housing developers.", "replies": [{"id": "h1gcilz", "text": "I am not 100 percent sure. Something more high level such as site selection, or on the design side.", "replies": [{"id": "h1h3ie8", "text": "Design will be difficult unless you already have design schooling or experience. If by design you mean being an architect or civil engineer, then that's separate from development. You'd be looking at going back to schoo to study design and starting over at an entry level position. \n\nSite selection is part of the due diligence process of acquisitions, and requires modeling skills/experience since selection involves quickly modeling out all income and expenses, remediation, entitlements/permitting, etc to assess if the site is worth investing in. \n\nI've been in development for a while and can't really think of any high level positions that don't require years of development experience already. You should look into project management or acquisitions/underwriting if you want to work for a developer. If you want more design side, look at architecture firms, civil engineering, landscape, SMEP, or some on the design build side.\n\nI had a difficult time breaking into Development, partially because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. Once you have a clear idea, it'll be easier (but not easy) for you to make the jump.\n\nHope this helps!\n\nedit: spelling", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h1gnltl", "text": "You\u2019re not going to get rich working for a developer. Real estate development doesn\u2019t actually pay a lot of money until you start getting equity in the deals and even then you\u2019re waiting years for projects to complete before you receive a decent chunk of money. The owners of development shops make a lot of money but usually start out with a lot of money too.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h1gv18b", "text": "The person I learned the most from had a planning background and used it to be a smarter investor.  \n\nAs others have said - working for a developer isn't how you make lots of money, doing deals is (e.g. getting equity in your company's deals, doing deals that are too small for them or otherwise not in competition, etc.).", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]