A piece of land can give many different impressions to various people. If four people look at the same piece of property, they may see four different images for development. One person might see a golf course while another developer might see a prime site for shopping mall. A third investor could conjure up an idea for a town house development while the fourth person might see a wonderful opportunity for office park. Some parcel of land cries out for a particular treatment, others are more versatile and stimulate creative minds. Every piece of property is unique in some way. Successful developers learn to find the highest and best use of land.
Planning on paper is a sure way of making a project more likely to succeed. Many developers find the planning stage to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of developing land. Many factors must be assessed as a plan is made for a development. Before a project goes into production there will usually be a plan that has been created by experts. After working on a plan that deals with existing features, the developer has to create a plan for the development. For example, if you are building a residential subdivision, what house style will you allow in the development? Are you going to have a play area throughout the development for children? Good developers ask themselves hundreds of questions during the planning of the development.
1.1 Selecting Viable Projects
Selecting viable projects for development comes naturally to some developers. The process can be as simple as a gut feeling, but actually with so little to base a decision on is risky. Most investors and developers require extensive documentation on property before a purchase offer is made. Once a developer begins searching for land, there is a good chance that the developer will have so many parcels to choose from that confusion will run rampant. If there are a number of real estate brokers submitting properties