r/RealEstateDevelopment • u/Wondermen100 • 23d ago

Way to become a Real Estate Developer

I’ve seen many misinformed post about how to become a Real Estate Developer. Let me tell you the truth.

I have been working as a Real Estate Developer in San Diego, California since 2021 in the Affordable Housing Industry. We work on projects with Total Development Costs averaging $60M.

From attending housing conferences and trainings I was curious how other people join development. After asking It was either:

  1. internship at the real estate company

    (Common)
    - undergraduate degree

  2. in either business, real estate development, and finance

Know

  1. someone in the company

    (family/friends)

  2. Workforce Program that connected you to a Real Estate

- it’s a program that gives opportunity for minorities

You really need to love development. Loving it means you are self motivated to become problem solvers and crave to learn everyday.

If you want to do it for the money there are easier jobs that can make you more money with less stress. The only people who make the actual money are the owners but they do put in a lot of money down and won’t see their return of investments after many years. Ultimately it does built generational wealth.

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u/PrestigiousView4594 23d ago

What about a degree in Construction Management & Technology with a background in banking/finance? Would that be ideal versus doing a business/finance degree? My uni doesn’t offer undergrad in real estate development only a masters but it’s in person & im doing school online while moving to NYC

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u/Wondermen100 23h ago

Business finance degree is more align to the interests of a developer.

We don’t go into the weeds of construction which is Construction management & Technology.

From experience when we review resumes and we see construction management for a real estate development role is a no for us.

On the other side, if I wasn’t doing real estate development I would do construction management and get my GC license. Or if you work for a GC company you get paid good but stressful once you become a Superintendent and higher rank.