Vol. 2 — The Developer Illusion

Here’s what I used to believe:

Real estate development is about building nice homes.

You buy a good lot. Design something tasteful. Hire the right people. Build it clean. Rent it or sell it for a tidy return.

The hard part? Picking countertops and fending off lowball offers.

At least, that’s how I pictured it—until about two weeks ago.

Since then, I’ve been reading, building mock deals, and running numbers.

And it turns out development isn’t about taste. Or even vision, really.

It’s about timing, capital, and the math that happens before anything gets built.

I’ve put together a few mock duplex deals so far. Built a calculator that maps out land cost, build cost, financing, rents, and expenses. Just real numbers in a spreadsheet, nothing fancy.

And already I’ve learned:

Most of what I thought mattered, doesn’t.

Perfect lot? Doesn’t matter if zoning shuts you down.

Beautiful design? Not helpful if soft costs eat your margin.

Strong rents? Great—until your debt service wipes out the cash flow.

I used to think you start with the vision and work backwards.

Now I know:

The math leads. The design follows.

This part of the process is quiet. No site visits, no glossy renderings. Just early mornings, zoning codes, and playing with spreadsheets like a weirdo.

But it’s starting to click.

Next week, I’ll walk through one of those mock deals and what my calculator actually told me. (It wasn’t pretty. But it was useful.)

Until then:

What did you think development was before you actually looked into it?