Property management makes or breaks a property's performance long term.

Knowing that - why do people not spend more time finding the right manager?

What exactly does a property management company do?

This should help...🧵
They’re responsible for the day-to-day operations of a property, taking over where the construction team left off.

Developing real estate is extremely difficult.

It takes confidence, smarts and adaptability.

It all starts with finding the right target market.

Here are the 4 things I look for in my quest to develop incredible buildings…🧵

1. Rents

No developer is a magician - projects have to be financially feasible and rent levels are a key component to that.

Am I looking for a white-hot area where I can squeeze every last nickel out of tenants?

Definitely not.

A real estate developer's role is often compared to that of a movie producer.

What is a real estate developer responsible for? 🧵 • Locating a solid market

• Finding a good site

• Creating a vision!

In 2011, I decided to quit real estate.

I had given it 6 years, learned a ton, but hadn’t made any money.

The market was down, and I decided that staying the course was hopeless.

Here’s how one conversation changed everything. 👇 After 5 years as a project manager for a developer in the SF Bay Area, I had hit rock bottom.

The market had been crushed, and my prospects for a job were almost nothing.

My wife and I had just gotten married, but were now living rent free in her mom’s basement in Minneapolis.

Setting clear expectations is a key to successful communications.

It’s important in business, real estate, friendship, even marriage!

But it’s absolutely crucial when trying to buy a development site where you don’t plan to close for 12-18 months. As soon as we get under purchase agreement with a seller, we send them a benchmark approximation report.

This is like a short guide of how the seller can expect to communicate with us showing when we will be executing specific DD steps on the way to close.

When we started Hall Sweeney in 2017, our plan was to try to develop one boutique 40-50 unit apartment project per year.

In April 2021, we broke ground on a 126-unit, $26.3M project.

In March 2022, we broke ground on a 204-unit, $43.8M project.

Business plans change. We were known as boutique developers after developing Kolo and 29Bryant.

And I worked on a few other cool boutique projects with other developers.

But then we started scaling up. And haven’t stopped!

When I made my first offer on a development site, it took me 4 days to get comfortable with the number.

Today, I can make the same offer with less than 3 hours of work.

Here is how I do it. 👇🏼 The same reason I can execute on a deal quickly is the same reason I throw 99% of deals out after a quick glance.

I start in my circle of competence and stay inside of it.

I had my first kid at 35. My second at 38.

On their recent podcast episode, both @sweatystartup and @thesamparr say they wish they would have had kids earlier.

For my family, waiting was the smartest thing we’ve ever done. I was a mess in my 20s.

PTSD and childhood trauma led me to abuse drugs and alcohol as an escape.

Therapy in my late 20s helped me start to change.

When I was 38, I was bringing in ~$100 million per year in deals buying multifam RE.

The job paid well, but I wasn’t happy.

I had no equity, no freedom and no agency over myself. Around that time, I had a series of major life events occur.

- My second daughter was born
- My mom died
- My college roommate died
- The Chicago Cubs won the World Series

It sounds silly writing it, but the Cubs finally winning the world series was a major event in my life.

How do you get started as a real estate developer?

What’s my story?

I’m regularly asked these questions. Here are four podcasts that I’ve done that help answer the question. 👇🏼 Grateful to @TIP_Network for having me on and @JPatrickDonley for the great interview!

Watch:
Listen: link.chtbl.com/REI159
Transcript: buff.ly/3J4sLc9

No state is perfect.

Make fun of Minnesota’s cold weather all you want…

But we’ve got fresh water, no risk of hurricanes or earthquakes, more Fortune 500 cos per capita than any other state, all books are legal, women have rights AND we have an $18 billion budget surplus. And dope saunas.

Most of my friends in MSP are coastal transplants.

Every single one agrees quality of life here off the charts!

Once you get here - it’s hard to leave!

https://twitter.com/grove/status/1601944391547064322

Yes - it’s cold for a few months.

But guess what, you can afford to travel when you live here!

You can also learn to ski, snowshoe & grow to love saunas!

I came across this picture of myself from 2016 today & almost fell out of my chair.

I look tired, bloated & unhappy. Dressed in my corporate gear.

Sometimes the best thing that happens from taking a risk is the freedom that allows you to be the person you were meant to be. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. It’s hard, stressful & can be risky.

But for me was the best risk I’ve ever taken.

Just had a conversation with a fellow developer who has a project ready to go.

Long term hold w/bank loan. Low cash on cash in early years. Very good location. Boutique size.

The challenge? He'll build it for more than he could sell it for. Should he do it? I should add. He has $200,000 of predevelopment costs out towards the deal.

If you have sent me a DM in the past month, check out this thread.

I’ve dug up my old tweets for you!

Answers to questions on real estate development, mindset & more! 👇🏼👇🏼 How to become a developer?

https://twitter.com/seandsweeney/status/1498011894745116674

Short flight. Movies aren’t working.

AMA (ask me anything) for 15 min.

Go! It’s been 20 min but let’s keep going a bit!

Why do I recommend you partner with an experienced developer on your first development project?

Do you already know how to:

• FIT plan a site?
• Tie up a site?
• Negotiate sufficient due diligence time in your PA?

👇🏼👇🏼 •Whether or not to continue working on plans during entitlements and how that affects your start date?
• How start date affects preleasing strategies?
• How to market online in 2022?
• How to oversee a leasing team?

A funny thing happened to me in my 40s - I became obsessed with dying.

“Oh my god I’m going to die!”

At 44, statistically I’m 10 years past the half way point of an average man’s lifespan in the US.

Oh, crap. 👇🏼 Thankfully, despite the momentary urge, I didn’t run out and buy a red Porsche and leave my wife for a 20-something.

After the initial shock wore off, the realization became a gift.

How many more good, healthy years do I have left?

I’ll never forget this picture as long as I live.

It was taken exactly 5 years ago today - the day I decided to change my life once and for all.

January 13, 2017.

Also, my 39th birthday. 👇🏼👇🏼 On paper, I should have been happier.

Solid real estate job at fast growing firm, 8 years into a great marriage, 2 healthy young daughters, newly designed modern house.

But no matter how many times I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t escape the feeling that this wasn’t it for me.

It's come to my attention that a lot of people think I started in commercial real estate in 2017. Not true.

I started in 2004, worked for others for 13 years, then started my own firm in 2017. From 2004 - 2005, I was the receptionist at Thompson Dorfman Partners, a California development firm.

From 2005 - 2009, I was a project manager at TDP & oversaw the creation of several development projects in the Bay Area.

Revenue is the really the only metric that matters to a newly created business.

If you can generate top line revenue, the business has a chance to survive.

If you can't, you are out of business. 👇👇 Running is business is hard and there are so many things to focus on and get right.

But when you are first starting out, none of them really matter except the ability to generate revenue or create future value.