Land Development 101 - Planning & Due Diligence

If you REALLY want to learn land development from the very beginning, then DO NOT SKIP OVER THIS VIDEO! Lately I have been getting inundated with questions from people like, “Ok, I have some land. Now what do I do?” or “I have a partner and we want to develop property. Where do we go? What’s the first step??” And I have to admit, the majority of what I have been talking about in my posts is mainly the land development CONSTRUCTION stage, which makes up only ONE piece of the whole process! But it does not cover the planning and due diligence.
So now we’re going to take a few step back to start from the very beginning. The “FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS” and the “ENTITLEMENTS” stage. This is where the bulk of your planning and due diligence happens.
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[@jordancollins7362]

Love this series. I am a civil engineer in land development looking to make a switch to the real estate development site and this is great for learning the "other" side.

[@landdevelopment1019]

Learning all sides will definitely make you a more well-rounded engineer for sure!

[@KOSMOinfinite]

Big focus on earth and dirt, but this is what is very important with land development. Lots of KZbin channels focus on the sexy stuff but knowing how to navigate the dirt can save lots of headaches. I am still new to the industry but here in Canada, dealing with frost is a big hurdle for dealing with subsurface and earth. Knowing enough to talk shop with the Civil Engineers is a great skill to add to the tool-kit.

[@landdevelopment1019]

@KOSMOinfinite - you nailed it right on the head!! Could not have said it better myself.

[@cityrunner9701]

I'm a Permit Expediter who's new (and has gotten thrown to the wolves) to Residential Tract Developments. Your videos are SO extremely informative, useful, and lifesaving. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.

[@energyexecs]

Great learning video. I support large housing land developments on former military bases that have been repurposed to civilian uses namely the development of much needed housing for both military and civilian housing. Another new aspect entering the markets is that of development of solar, energy storage battery systems, and electric vehicle charging for such developments. Finally the dry utilities require a certain deep understanding of the interaction with the incumbent electric and gas utilities. Thanks for the great videos.

[@DennyTroncoso]

I like the videos. The speaker is straight to the point and is providing quality education.

[@angelammathews82]

Great video! I actually work for a national land development & home builder company in Florida, and I handle the due diligence and entitlements. Subscribing today and looking forward to watching your other vids!

[@alexis5784]

Best video i've come across on land development that speaks to the step by step things an investor should know going in. Super helpful!

[@rexiecurlup]

I just started working for a land development company and these video have been super helpful. Thanks!

[@jamesoakley9333]

In searching for my first home currently and appreciate all the advice. I'll be subbed from now on. Thanks!

[@samaiech7587]

Well done! Very informative.I'm interested in learning the ropes of all stages of real estate development, especially the business part (management, finance, etc.) and legal aspects. Are you going to make a more detailed video covering the feasibility study?

[@skybeat6931]

Great videos, pls keep going.

[@dandrewhite2387]

Thank you for this video! Very informative!

[@mr.b5583]

Thank you for providing these great info!

[@landdevelopment1019]

My pleasure!

[@khaleefax9553]

*What kind of engineers you need to do it all?* *I am buying a land within the city limits surrounded by homes; however the land is fully wooded. It will need to cleared and excavated and graded but all these other reports you are talking about seem quite an undertaking.*

[@landdevelopment1019]

You will definitely still need a civil engineer and a soils engineer. If this is a property already surrounded by other development, then it sounds like you shouldn't have too many issues with getting the necessary permits to build (knock on wood). However, with this being a heavily wooded area, there could be some concerns with possible endangered species. So maybe you'll have to deal with the Department of US Fish and Wildlife? Will you be required to do a biological study, endangered species study, etc? I'm not sure, but those are answers that your City and/or County will give you.

[@jerryzh]

entitlements means getting approval from local government. I did see where is the meeting with government and neighbors to get approval.

[@landdevelopment1019]

You're correct. Part of that process of the getting approval from your city or county would be those townhall meetings with neighbors, etc.

[@joeyalfaro2323]

You just see from air all they doing buying up land in similar areas. Example here Idaho around Boise Ada county your set. Further you get from Boise less likely it will increase. I'm local I watch them move around Snake River up to Burley Idaho. But windy lack jobs. Wilder Idaho is darling of Idaho but ghost town.

[@landdevelopment1019]

100% correct. I am very familiar with Boise area so I know exactly what you're talking about. But just in general, you are right. It's the demand that drives value. So land closer to hopping communities and cities where the majority of the population lives/works/etc. is definitely more valuable than something that's further out in the middle of nowhere.

[@consuelochaneco5810]

Wow, very good explanation. Do you have an average cost land development codt per acre for subdivision.

[@landdevelopment1019]

Need help getting started? Then be sure to check out our new ULTIMATE DUE DILIGENCE CHECKLIST! landdevelopment101.com/product/the-ultimate-due-diligence-checklist/

[@consuelochaneco5810]

To develop a raw kabd for subdivision . Flat land

[@JayLupe]

Does the land surveyor company do the entire Entitlements stage? Or how does that work..?

[@Dadarev]

Hi there! Great introduction, thank you! Do all of these need to be done if I'm just developing a small property for myself?

[@santoshpatil9526]

i need help for planning the high volume land leveling in sandy area

[@landdevelopment1019]

Do you have a Civil Engineer on board yet?

[@TommySheaofficial]

After doing a Title Search Report, the back deeds ended, and they completed the file with, "developer deed". How significant is this? What can the developer do, when creating a deed? And what is a "developer deed"?

[@landdevelopment1019]

Hi Tommy, good question. But I'm afraid I do not know the answer to this. This would be a question for the legal team or a title attorney I would think. I actually just watched a great webinar by Argus College surrounding a lot of these types of questions. I would suggest reaching out to Argus College (arguscollege.com) with this one. I think they can provide some great insight to this.

[@TommySheaofficial]

@@landdevelopment1019 Sounds good.

[@TheSubtleBeast]

What did you find?

[@CokeysCasino]

I have a 2 acre lot, it’s zoned mix use. I was told by the zoning dept an environmental assessment is not needed. Please clarify for me what type of land lots require these type of Assessments before you build? Is it land that hasn’t been zoned yet?

[@landdevelopment1019]

ecourtneyw good question. You are correct, not every piece of land requires an ESA. Typically if the land has had an environmentally-sensitive industry or business on it in the past (or in close proximity) that sold, supplied, or dispensed fuel, gasoline, oil, or other hazardous materials then it would most definitely require one.

[@CokeysCasino]

Land Development 101 thank you for the response. I’m gonna catch up on your videos tonight. Would love to partner w an experienced developer but I’m finding I may have to tackle this thing myself. Project is big for me but too small I think for some experienced major developers so I’m trying to learn everything I can

[@tazaxx21]

You're talking about California? I think it's not quite so detailed with the environmental whackos here in our area.

[@landdevelopment1019]

Agreed 100%. "Wacko's" is a nice way of putting it. LOL

[@calebbishop8737]

Who does the feasibility analysis? Whats their title?

[@landdevelopment1019]

There's not a specific professional that you can call to do this. This is something that's done more internally, but it depends on the company's own personal skills and knowledge. But you can probably gather enough information by talking to real estate agents and looking at similar homes near your target area that have recently sold and at what price point. And also DOM (days on market), etc. In general, is their growth and demand where you plan on developing?

[@yokofashionpassion]

Does anyone have a template for estimating the soft costs?

[@landdevelopment1019]

As far as collecting soft cost estimates goes, the local agencies and jurisdictions should have fee schedules they can give to you (i.e. water/sewer connection fees, school fees, transportation fees, etc.). As for the consulting fees, you will have to talk with them directly and find out their rates.

[@ziggyc4474]

Did you go to university and if so what was your major ?

[@landdevelopment1019]

My degree is civil engineering. But to be honest, all this knowledge and education really came from attending the university of DR Horton! (just kidding. it's not a university at all. But it certainly felt like it!) Working with a big homebuilder or developer is really the best education. While a degree in civil engineering helped me understand some concepts in the development process better than others, anyone can jump in and learn development if they want to learn it. Some of the greatest people I've personally known in this field have no formal education or they came from completely unrelated backgrounds.

[@ZeusAndKiller]

Sounds like a huge pain in the ass. Better hope you don't have a damn owl on your property 🙄

[@landdevelopment1019]

SERIOUSLY!!

[@Nickporter17]

God this is scary