Finding a Property Development Mentor

Can anybody here give me an suggestions on how to find a property development mentor as they are a lot harder to find than it sounds.

All the property development books I have read have mentioned that all successful property developers have a mentor that has helped them along the way with the first property development.

I have tried cold emailing and asking people for assistance but to date I have had zero replies.
Approaching strangers seems not to be very effective .

I have now applied for a scholarship with the Urban Develop Institute of Australia in an attempt to attend some of their functions and get to know a couple of the develops through that channel but this also seem like a long shot.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

 

Cutting a long story short, besides a few tips here and there and other bits a pieces that many developers are happy to discuss for free, if your talking about 1:1 mentorship and hands on guidance during a specific project, then you are most likely going to have to pay someone for that as it is quite an involved process and takes a lot of time. That's at least what I have seen.

Cheers

 

Yeah, Pretty much what Leo2413 said.

Post up specifics questions you have and the Brains Trust (Westminster, Sanj, DT, Leo etc) will chime in with sensible answers. (Suprised I just used DT and 'Sensible' in the same sentance).

If you want more detailed 'hand holding' I know Westminster offers a 'pay for' service. For your first development it would be money well spent.

What are you actually looking for?

Blacky

 

Hey

On a serious note @Anton79 - you don't need a paid mentor or do something dangerous like a JV. The information is all available online for free. Post specific questions as you have them and different people will answer with their views and you'll learn something from all of them. That's what I was doing when I joined these forums in 2003.

 

Or JV in a development with a more experienced person and learn on the job on your own protect

 

+1.

 

Anton I see you are in Perth. Get in contact with @MTR she does developments and is a genuinely nice person.

 

Hi Anton, what level are you looking to get in at ?

 

Guys,

I'm getting in on entry level. I have never completed a development before. I'm looking at doing a 3 townhouse or a subdivide and build.

Things i'm not sure about at the moment.

I have been told I can borrow about 1.2m but i need to work out how much I should be spending on the land purchase and how much should I be spending on the build.

Do I just simply start talking with builders and start getting estimates on what a 3 townhouse development would cost and start working backwards for there in terms of feasibility and work out how much I can spend on the land purchase?

Also what tax structure do developers use when they are looking to so a small development?

 

Hi @Anton79

1.2 is going to be pretty tight to do a triplex. I'll help you work it backwards as construction costs are probably the most 'known' estimate.
3 x townhouses (double storey) would cost around $850-950k
3 x villas (single storey) would cost around $650k fully finished

There for you have around $500k for a block of land if doing single storey villas or $250k for townhouses which is pretty much a unicorn.

I'm always happy to meet up with anyone in Perth for the price of a cup of coffee to have a natter about development. Come along to Perth meet ups as well.

As others have said, post questions and you will get a lot of information. There are a lot of knowledgeable Perth developers on here doing projects - some will have threads so read those and but some don't but will chime in for question time.

Tax structure is a complex question. It depends if you are going to hold them, sell them, have a high risk litigious day job, need the ability to share income with a spouse and future projects. Most here will either have them in their personal name if holding or a trust if selling/need to distribute income. Personally I have 2 projects in my own name (holding) and 6 projects in discretionary trusts

 

Don't bother with UDIA. In my experience that place is a waste of time chest beating from people that could only ever do one part of a major development but have none of the skills to do all parts of a minor development. Big difference.

 

Thanks Westmnister

I would really appreciate the catch and chat, and to gain some valuable information about where an how to get started.

I'll PM you to setup a catchup.

Cheers
Anton

 

Thanks to the all of you on this forum. You all have been a great help so far.

 

I'd also like to get in touch with someone experienced in Developments please. I'm based in Melbourne. Thanks in advance

 

Yep pm @Westminster!

The bank forbid me from speaking with her about development. Dam banks not giving away buckets of money

 

Don't give her too much work, she'll start jacking her rate up before I get a chance to utilise her

 

Get in Line! Starts behind me

 

Hi Anton

Some good advice here on the forum.

Please be very careful if you are a first time developer, now is not the time to be jumping into the Perth market. If you already own the land and have held it for years then perhaps that is a different story. Also, developers can lose money, its not a gravy train, and no one can pull you out of the **** if the timing is wrong.

Read post by @Rooky, where he detailed his project in Balga, where he outlines what he has learnt, he mentioned in his post he purchased land at peak that was Perth late 2014, market is worse now IMO.

Don't wish to be negative but I dont want newbie developers to lose money, everything I am looking at the moment in Perth is not making any sense, that is because the land has risen too high and the end values have dropped. The problem is the market is still declining therefore high risk. Make sure you do your own homework and in particular end values, I would be extremely conservative with this.

Another forum member in Perth mentioned his values came in at $150,000 under original estimates. This is what I mean about a declining market. You have time on your hands, I would use this to learn.

All the best.

MTR