Which Career Path is More Rewarding and Easier for Entrepreneurship?
I’m a civil engineer exploring career paths in real estate development and trying to decide between land development and vertical development.
Which path tends to be more financially rewarding in the long run?
If the goal is to eventually start my own development firm, which path has a lower barrier to entry?
Depends on which area you're looking to open shop.
In NYC vertical development is the only option
When most people talk about development they mean ground up, land acquisition to CO construction. Land development as a concept really only applies to the home builder side where a homebuilder will effectively have an option contract to buy finished lots once you've finished horizontal work. Unless you personally are going out and finding land at a below market basis there generally isn't a massive spread that a homebuilder is willing to pay. Think 15-25% profit margin. However you can financially engineer it sometimes to maximize your equity return. Lots of contractors do this and make very solid living but there is always the risk the homebuilder doesn't pick up your option contract and you're stuck with a pipe farm in some random exurb.
More "traditional" development like ground up multifamily has a lot more capital circling around it as its obviously a lot more expensive to build an entire apartment ocmplex. You'll probably need to work for a large firm as unless you have really good contractor relationships (and a lot of personal capital) as bigger firms are going to have far better financing relationships and economies of scale to keep build costs down. But its doable.
I would say land development has lower barriers to entry - I know a handful of younger guys who put these deals together as they're just cheaper to get in the door and you don't need as large of a balance sheet. But its definitely more niche versus "traditional" development or vertical as you refer to it as.
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