Vision In Real Estate and Startup Companies
I often ask myself if the people that start companies or execute real estate development projects have a technical knowledge or a vision that allows them to embark on these projects.
Here in Washington, D.C. real estate developers are executing projects in lower income neighborhoods. They appear to have bought up a property in a neighborhood, knocked it down and have installed a “luxury” condo building. I continue to wonder whether the developers that are executing these projects have an incredible technical knowledge to know that the financing and construction costs can equate to profit. Do they combine this technical analysis with a vision to know that a neighborhood that has some less than desirable features will become desireable? The pre-construction picture above shows the luxury building in process. Now if we look across the street from this building, we see this image:
In considering this development, does the developer know that people will pay 449K for this view? Is this the vision they bring to the project as they know it is a “Startup”
I love startup companies. You take a risk to come in early and perhaps you can profit from the price appreciation. Could I benefit from this real estate startup?
Watching these projects inspires me to execute a project with vision. I often wonder if I could take 50 Water St, Medford, MA and buy out all the residents and turn it into a luxury condo building? This building has so many challenges, that the best thing for it is a complete knock down. Imagine this building with underground parking, a roof deck pool and the latest in amenities. This property is located just outside of Boston, therefore the demographic can attract those with the right income level. In the next town over, the Avalon development invested in high-end apartments and has been able to rent them. Therefore we could take our “vision” for this property and gain similar benefits. Now while I may have the vision for this, I have not applied a technical review of what the financing would look like. I am off to find a real estate development course now.
If you have vision for turning something that others overlook into profit, feel free to share. It would be great to hear about your combination of vision and technical knowledge.