Real Estate Development and Investment

This book is good as an overall guideline for most of the things to consider before embarking into Development. I liked that the emphasis is in planning, marketing, financing. We often forget that construction is only the last part of development. Success is achieved by doing our homework prior to construction and completion.Overall a good eye openning book.

Perfect

This book is a complete wastage, not of only your money but also of paper and ink. Even if you have just completed your high school and want to get into real estate, this book is not going to help you. Nothing more to write...

I have to say I am a bit disappointed in this book. I am by no means an expert or intensely experienced developer, but this book is just far too rudimentary, especially for the price point. It seems like every topic starts out with a disclaimer that going in depth is “out of the scope” of this book, and then proceeds to provide basic information that is common sense. I thought this would be more like a text book, but I guess I’ll have to buy individual books that deep dive on each topic. Each page has a topic that could easily be expounded upon ten fold and still not be a totally complete exercise in the development process and related attributes. Oh well, all in all it was worth the read, but I felt it should be 15-20 dollars and not 50.

The US real estate market is currently bouncing off multiyear lows. Certainly for residential, while commercial real estate may soon be headed lower. It might then seem strange to look at this book. But perhaps this could end up being the best time in decades to go into real estate investment.The book covers the major aspects. Starting with the look for unsatisfied needs in a region. Without this, all else is moot.Assuming you have found such a gap, then other topics include ways to get control of property. This often involves dealing with zoning. Here the book warns of greatly differing zoning experiences across the US. Texas is seen as efficient (often less than a year) in granting some zoning easements. While California can take years and lawsuits.In terms of risk, the text describes the main categories. The actual problem is not to identity these, but in finding ways to mitigate these, balanced by an assessment of the likelihood of encountering each.If you get to construction, then the book suggests that the inevitable delays are more important than other types of cost overruns (like material or wage increases).

Steve Peca's Real Estate Development and Investment: A Comprehensive Approach provides valuable insight into the business of real estate development. Greatly appreciated was the step-by-step analysis of the real estate development process, from the initial idea to project completion and asset managemet. Most real estate development books focus on one or more aspects of development,this book covers all phases and more. I highly recommend the book.