Ground-up development

Most people wire money into a development deal without asking the ten questions that matter.

I develop real estate in Southern California, and I make videos explaining how these deals actually work — the entitlements, the capital stack, the fees, and the parts that go wrong. No pitch. Start with the checklist.

The 10 questions to ask a developer before you wire

One page. Ten questions, and what a straight answer to each one sounds like. Most people ask three of them.

I send the checklist and occasional notes on what I am building. No list rental, no daily email, and you can leave whenever you want.

Who this is for

You have capital and no time

You earn well, you are tired of being taxed into a corner, and you have money sitting in an account earning something you find insulting. You have looked at real estate. You do not want a fourth rental you have to manage yourself.

You want to understand it, not be sold it

You are capable of evaluating a deal — nobody has ever explained the mechanics to you without a pitch attached. That is what this is. If you eventually decide passive real estate is not for you, the checklist still did its job.

Three of the ten

The full list goes out by email. Here are the three that separate a real operator from a good presentation.

What happens to my money if you cannot get the entitlement? Pursuit costs are real and they are spent before a shovel moves. Ask whether unspent capital is returned, what the pursuit budget is, and who eats it if the city says no.
Is the debt fixed or floating — and what does extending the rate cap cost? This is the question that broke a lot of deals in 2023 and 2024. Sponsors budgeted for a cap extension at the price they were quoted at closing, and it came in many times higher. If the answer is vague, that is the answer.
Show me a deal that went badly. What did investors get back? Everyone has one. A sponsor who cannot name theirs either has not done enough deals or is not telling you about it. How they talk about the bad one tells you more than the whole track record.

The other seven cover fees, the guarantor, cost overruns, the preferred return, hold period, and the one question almost nobody asks. Get the full list →

Who I am

Licensed California real estate agent working Orange County and adjacent Los Angeles County cities. I focus on ground-up development and heavy value-add, and I publish what I learn as I go — including the deals I walk away from.

If you want the longer version, the videos are the longer version.

Talk to me directly

If you would rather skip the email and just ask questions, book a time. It is a conversation, not a pitch — there is nothing to invest in on this call.

Email me directly →

Goes straight to me, not to an assistant. Tell me roughly where you are and what you are trying to figure out, and I will answer the question rather than book you into a funnel.