Property management firm to open satellite office in Greensboro

GREENSBORO — Park Avenue Properties, a Cornelius, N.C.-based property management firm, announced Wednesday that it would be opening five satellite offices, including one in Greensboro.
The other offices will open in Raleigh, Memphis, Charleston and Greenville, S.C. The company plans to develop operations in these markets driven by demand for residential rental property, according to a press release.

The new offices will primarily serve as meeting venues for clients and property managers in the individual markets. Day-to-day operations will continue in Cornelius.

Interest in real estate is seen growing

By Nikos Roussanoglou
Chinese and Russian investors are showing increased interest in acquiring properties in Greece, mostly in Athens, as well as the islands of Rhodes, Crete and Corfu, according to a report by real estate agency Danos & Associates-BNP Paribas on the course of the property market in the first six months of the year.
The Chinese and the Russians are motivated by the legal clause offering them a five-year residence permit if they invest at least 250,000 euros in the Greek property market. Yet Danos & Associates also records a recently increased interest on the part of British buyers, who are focusing their attention on the Cyclades islands and Corfu.
Home buyers have a wide variety of options to choose from as the existing stock is particularly big, while expectations of a stabilization of the market this year have not materialized: House prices dropped by another 11.5 percent in the first half of the year, bringing the total decline over the last three years to an average of 28.7 percent.
The report showed that Greece’s political stability along with the price drop have increased the appetite of foreign buyers, but it adds that for that interest to turn into acquisitions, the government will need to continue with its reforms program.

Slowdown in real estate forces builders to cut prices and dole out freebies

NEW DELHI: There are no takers for close to 6 lakh homes in the country, forcing builders to cut prices and dole out freebies, which many hope will herald the much-awaited correction in the home market ahead of the festival season.

With the economy in a mess, the rupee caught in a whirlwind and the job scene deteriorating by the day, buyers are shying away from the market, leaving builders to grapple with an inventory of over 700 million sq ft. By end of June 2013, cumulative nationwide unsold inventory was 670 million sq ft, up 54 million sq ft in just one quarter, says property research firm Liases Foras.

According to the National Housing Bank's (NHB) residential housing index, Residex, 22 of the 26 cities it tracks have seen a decline in home prices in the April to June quarter. Prices are expected to fall further, says NHB Chairman RV Verma. "Developers are now willing to take a haircut on their margins," he says.

There are signs the bubble will finally burst. A 1,100 sq ft apartment in Noida Extension that cost around Rs 42 lakh a few months ago can today be bought for around Rs 37 lakh, as the builder is agreeing to a 10% discount.

Across town near Gurgaon's Dwarka Manesar Expressway, a 1,200 sq ft apartment can be had for Rs 77 lakh as compared to a86 lakh six months ago. gFor a first-time home buyer, this is the right time to buy as developers are under pressure and are willing to reduce prices and also waive off charges for benefits like club membership and preferential location, h says Samarjit Singh, managing director of IndiaHomes, a venture capitalbacked realtor.

In the ten years that I have been around, I haven't seen prices falling like this before, h says Rajni Naggar, a real estate agent in Noida, who is advising her clients to hold their investment plans until Diwali.

There is growing hope that new launches during Diwali will happen at lower than current market prices. Builders are already offering made-to-measure payment plans. Among the big cities, property prices have softened the most in Hyderabad (4.55%) followed by Kolkata (4.06%) and Chennai (2.26%). While property prices in the National Capital Region (Delhi and adjoining areas) fell 1.49% in the quarter, Bangalore saw a decline of 0.92%, Pune 0.90% and Mumbai 0.45%.

The situation is very grim. gThe industry is in the ICU, and without corrective action it could very well slip into a coma, h says Sunil Rohokale, managing director of Ask group, which manages a PE fund that invests in residential housing projects across the country. The corrective action Rohokale suggests is deep discounts, of around 20% for the mid-segment and 30% in luxury housing, if developers want at least some of the buyers to return. Builders are adopting new strategies to woo customers in this sluggish market.


Mumbai-based Lodha Developers recently launched its new project in Lower Parel with an advertising blitzkrieg featuring Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai. A developer selling high-end properties in Gurgaon is pampering potential buyers by ferrying them in Audi Q7s and Mercs and treating them to five-star lunches.

Another developer in suburban Mumbai is trying to entice buyers by offering an expensive international holiday. For the first time, DLFBSE 5.36 %, whose name was enough to sell a project in the past, has now been forced to launch a project with a subvention scheme, where buyers pay 20% upfront, take a home loan for the rest and start paying EMIs to the bank only after possession of the apartment. It has become a buyers f market, says Lalit Kumar Jain, chairman of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, the builders ' association.

Agents say this is a good time to negotiate hard for better deals. The builder today is willing to throw in a 10% discount. Push him a little more and you could get 5-6% worth of freebies as well, says Sunil Kapur of KK Real Estate in Delhi, who sells apartments for builders in Gurgaon and Noida. These freebies could include air conditioners, customised kitchens, top-notch flooring, free furniture, free parking and the likes. h Though nothing seems to be working now, he says the buyer will emerge king once the economy stabilises around Diwali, h he says.

Builders agree that the pace of sales has slowed considerably. Most of them were used to the idea that a project will be sold overnight. Now it fs taking them longer to sell and for developers who are facing a liquidity issue, the only option will be to reduce prices.

There is demand for housing but the issue among buyers is the erosion of confidence in the economy and uncertainty, h says Niranjan Hiranandani, one of Mumbai fs biggest builders. With prices of properties not rising as fast as they did in the peak years, investors and speculators had gone out of the market.

Now with the rupee fs slide, higher inflation, job cuts, increasing interest rates and an environment of uncertainty all around, financial planning has gone awry and even end users are choosing to stay away. With the growth of India fs gross domestic product ( GDP) slowing down to a decade low of around 5% this fiscal year from a peak of 9.6% in 2006-07, new hiring by companies has dropped dramatically over the years and so have increments -- at all levels.

The manufacturing sector saw a negative growth of 1.2% in the quarter. Most real estate hotspots have mushroomed around manufacturing or service industry hubs like Gurgaon, Bangalore, Rajarhat in Kolkata, Chennai and Pune, and a contraction in manufacturing has had its negative effect on the market.

Increments across sectors like IT, telecom, auto, finance, banking, and many others have been sub-par this year, remaining on an average between 5% and 8%. Add to this the high cost of home loans. gWe will be cautious in pricing our new products, probably give options for simpler specifications to buyers to bring down price given that there are challenges in the economy, says Ajay Chandra, managing director of Unitech. In the April-June quarter, DLF reported a 38% fall in its net profit compared to last year.

Parsvnath's net profit dropped 25%. HDIL fs net profit was down 85% in the quarter.

Property Management Company in VA - Real Property Management Pros - Announces the Landlord Advanced Rent Program

Real Property Management in Northern Virginia launches a program that will allow landlords to receive their monthly rent on time, every month, regardless of whether tenants pay on time.

Important Property Management Software Benefits for property managers

Management of property and related works are really difficult to handle, if doing it manually. The property management software offers a lot of benefits to the property managers who want to evolve in the property business.

Being a property manager, you are always concern about the payment from tenants on time, advertising vacancies for landlords, organizing and scheduling inspections of the property, addressing issues of maintenance, background checks of the tenants and a high dose of paper work takes all the time. This isn’t everything a manager has to go through. In addition to the above things or items he/she has to go through management of income and expense, construction and development work, repair and maintenance of the property and surrounding areas. This list makes one sweat, it requires a lot of time if you are manually handling all the affairs of the property management. However, the advancement technology has evolved some programmes which can really take up the work to lift the heavy loads from manager. The property management software Benefits are many for a manager who has to deal with many issues in the property management.

Apparently property managers were all but involved in all the work related to the property, be it the paper work – information of the tenants, or the advertisement of the property. The income and expenditure too were done manually. With the introduction of the property management software the property managers find it really easy to handle everything. It offers an automated income and expenditure console which automatically generate property details with a click of the mouse.

The property management software benefits the property managers with the communication with their tenants, suppliers and shareholders efficiently and effectively. The software comes with the property of managing document online. The property management software is effective with all kind of commercial properties, apartments, home association and rental facilities. The major benefits of property software management is that it allows the manager to put rents and expenses which means that you do not need to do it manually. The most important thing about the software is that it is always accurate. The calculations will always be error free.

The key benefit of using the property management software is that it allows you to track the rent arrears and makes all record of the transaction taken place in regards to the property. This makes it a lot easier for the mangers to know the income and expenditures; the source of the income and the expenditure occurring on different items.

As we mentioned above the property management software benefits in regards to communication, it makes it all easier for the property owners to send letter to the landlords, tenants and other property managers and keep a track of depreciating expenses. In addition to this the property management software offers multi-user facility, thus enabling the property managers to access the software from multi computers.

Looking at the property management software benefits it becomes one of the most important tool for the property managers enabling them to carry out tough paper works easily. It allows them to update information and enables them to access important documents quite easily.

Real Estate Weekly – 8/23/13

Easement protects historic area from sea level rise impacts

The Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved funding to preserve 221 acres in Dorchester County through a first-of-its-kind easement designed to protect coastal areas from the impacts of sea level rise and storm surge. The land lies along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park and Scenic Byway.
A new element under Program Open Space, Coastal Resilience Easements are designed to protect areas that may be prone to high waters and storm surge by permanently eliminating development, restricting impervious surfaces, protecting areas that allow wetlands to migrate, and requiring periodic Soil Conservation and Water Quality plan updates — all of which can help natural areas more quickly recover from flooding.
The easement will conserve a significant historic site along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park and Scenic Byway, including the Brodess Plantation where Tubman was once enslaved. Located less than a mile from Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, the property features sensitive and important forests, farmlands and wetlands and includes habitat for the endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel and Forest Interior Dwelling birds.
The easement was made possible thanks to the late Victoria Lake Waters, Millie Lake, Benito and Barbara Lake, Ellen Bronte Lake and Edward James.

Baltimore Design School to open in renovated building

The new Baltimore Design School building opens its doors Monday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1500 Barclay St. The $26.85 million, 110,000-square-foot facility is a unique public middle/high school that opened in temporary quarters in 2011, with a focus on three specific areas of design: architecture, fashion and graphic arts. The school’s renovated building, the former Lebow Clothing Factory, contains art galleries, studios, fabrication facilities, a media center, computer labs and classrooms. The former loading dock was transformed into an outdoor fashion show space, and clothing and sewing machines retrieved from the building’s factory days will be featured in a permanent exhibition. BDS, Baltimore City Public Schools and Seawall Development Corp. partnered on the renovation project. Ziger/Snead Architects designed the renovation, and Southway Builders Inc. was the general contractor.

ETC signs first five tenants to new ‘hub’ for startups

ETC, Baltimore city’s technology incubator, has signed the first five tenants for its new location at 101 N. Haven St., near the Highlandtown neighborhood. ETC announced earlier this year that it planned to move from the Canton facility it has occupied since 1999. Its current lease expires in October. The Haven Street building eventually will house 31 resident startup companies. Newly signed tenants are: Adcieo, specializing in social media and digital marketing techniques for nonprofit organizations; American Business Forms and Envelopes, software systems provider of printed business forms; Certified CIO, provider of IT outsourcing, proactive management services and network integration tools for small to media-sized businesses; Foodem, a business-to-business online marketplace connecting wholesale food buyers with food distributors, local farms and specialty food manufacturers; and SameGrain, developer of a social discovery platform that matches people with others of similar demographics, backgrounds, beliefs, interests and more.

Two women establish new construction management firm

Kate Nolan Bryden and Ann Marie Ryan, both formerly of Ryan Commercial LLC, have started their own development and construction management company, AMK Partners LLC, four months after Ryan Commercial joined national commercial leasing firm Lee & Associates. AMK Partners has been contracted to manage the new construction of 655,800 square feet of Class A industrial space at the Mid Atlantic Distribution Center in Perryman, Harford County. The project is owned by a joint venture of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Emory Properties LLC and Ryan Development LLC. While not yet officially classified as a Women’s Business Enterprise, AMK Partners will seek that status, Bryden said. “There is a year waiting process before you can apply for the status but we anticipate completing that by Summer 2014,” she said.

Tails and tongues will wag at opening of new dog park

Baltimore County’s third dog park, appropriately named Wags Dog Park at St. Helena Park, will open with a tail-wagging flourish on Saturday, attended by county officials and residents of the two-legged and four-legged persuasions. The new dog park is a $230,000 improvement to the county’s popular St. Helena Park in Dundalk. The dog park includes small and large playing areas, doggie water fountains and other amenities. St. Helena Park also has picnic areas, a playground and playing fields. The park will be operated by the Friends of Wags Dog Park, a committee of the Dundalk-Eastfield Recreation Council. The group will set the operating rules and regulations, coordinate paid membership and oversee the daily operations of the park. Baltimore County has two other dog parks in operation, at Robert E. Lee Park in Mount Washington and Hannah More Park in Reisterstown. A fourth park is being planned for the Perry Hall/White Marsh area.

Marriott plans sale of three hotels

Marriott International Inc., of Bethesda, the largest publicly traded U.S. hotel chain, said Friday it has entered into a non-binding agreement to sell three Edition-branded boutique hotels currently being built in London, Miami Beach and Manhattan for about $800 million. The identity of the buyer or buyers was not disclosed, although published reports have identified the buyer as a fund controlled by the Abu Dhabi government. If the transaction goes forward, Marriott said it expects each hotel sale would occur after construction is completed, with the company retaining long-term management agreements. The London hotel’s completion is expected within 30 days; the Miami Beach hotel in the second half of 2014; and the New York project in early 2015.

Stalled Shore hospital awarded U.S. grant

The Commerce Department is awarding $1.6 million to Talbot County to support the construction of a new hospital in Easton — if it gets built. The grant announced Friday would help pay for construction of a wastewater system and pump station to serve the new Shore Health System medical center. But Shore Health System announced last month that its plans to build the new $250 million hospital are on hold indefinitely due to lack of money. The Commerce Department said Easton Memorial Hospital is no longer large enough to serve the mid-Shore region, and that relocating the hospital would potentially move 2,100 jobs out of the area and hurt access to health care.

Hearing to be held on closed hospital

(AP) The Legislative Black Caucus has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 18 on the former Crownsville State Hospital, which closed in 2004. The state first sought to redevelop the former psychiatric hospital for African-Americans when it solicited proposals for the 532-acre campus in 2008. Del. Aisha Braveboy, D-Prince George’s, the caucus chair, told The Capital of Annapolis, “I just want to hear about what the community envisions, bring stakeholders together to talk it through and create a shared vision of how that would work.” In July, Community Services Center at Crownsville Inc., a nonprofit group, announced plans to redevelop the site as a $97 million campus for nonprofit organizations.

Dallas firm plans P.G. Co. power plant

A subsidiary of Panda Power Funds, of Dallas, Texas, a 3-year-old, private equity firm that is building several large power generation facilities, has applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission for permission to build, own and operate an 859-megawatt, natural-gas-fueled power plant in an industrially zoned area of Brandywine, in Prince George’s County. In a news release, Panda said the facility is expected to contribute approximately $1.2 billion to the area’s economy during construction and the plant’s first 10 years of operation. The proposed power plant is one of several that are planned in Maryland; others are in Cecil County, Charles County and a second one in Prince George’s County that is separate from the Panda project.

Y to acquire athletic club in Arnold

The Y of Central Maryland and LAR LLC, owner of Big Vanilla Athletic Clubs, announced an agreement for the Y to purchase Big Vanilla’s 80,000-square-foot building in Arnold and convert it to the Greater Annapolis Family Center Y. The agreement calls for a 30-day transition period, with the Y taking full ownership and management effective Sept. 19. The sale price was not disclosed. According to the announcement, current staff of the Arnold facility will be offered the opportunity to become Y employees and remain at the location. The Y, a nonprofit charitable organization, currently operates summer camps and before-and-after school enrichment program sites in Anne Arundel County. Big Vanilla’s other location in Pasadena is not part of the sale.

RMF opens office in Charlotte, N.C.

RMF Engineering Inc., of Catonsville, announced it has opened a full-service office in Charlotte, N.C. The office — the company’s 10th in the Eastern and Southeastern states — will enable RMF to offer localized mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering services for health care, higher education, local and federal government projects in the Greater Charlotte area. Additional services, including civil, structural, and commissioning engineering, will continue to be provided from RMF’s Raleigh office. RMF has worked on several projects in the Charlotte area, including the Carolinas Medical Center, and recently completed work at the Rogers Science and Health Building — a four-story, 56,500-square-foot facility, designed for LEED platinum certification on the campus of Queens University.

Baltimore County to air-condition 5 more schools

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz on Wednesday announced that five more schools in the county will have air-conditioning installed, bringing to 123 the number of air-conditioned schools, attended by some 30,000 students. The $29.2 million cost will be shared by the county and the state, with the county paying $17.2 million, using bond premium money it earned from its Nov. 29, 2012, bond sale. (The premium is the amount paid to a bond-seller when the coupon rate on the bonds is higher than prevailing interest rates.) Four of the five schools to be newly air-conditioned are elementary-level: Featherbed Lane, Hawthorne, Scotts Branch and Wellwood International, and one is a middle school, Parkville. Of the county’s 160 school buildings, 37 are not air-conditioned.

Maryland MBE goal raised to 29 percent

Maryland has increased the overall minority participation goal of its Minority Business Enterprise program to 29 percent on state-funded contracts, it was announced Wednesday by the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs. The former goal — 25 percent minority participation — dates to 2001, and it was met for the first time in fiscal year 2012. GOMA, which sets the MBE goal after consulting with other state agencies, proposed the 29 percent target after considering factors that included the relative availability of minority- and women-owned businesses as shown by the state’s most recent disparity study, and the past participation of MBEs in state procurement. The 29 percent goal will be in place for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 on state-funded contracts.

New hospital site to be in Largo

(AP) Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker and a search committee are recommending building a new regional hospital at Largo Town Center. The $645 million facility on 70 acres of county-owned land near a Metro station would replace the financially troubled Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly. The search committee considered four sites and narrowed its choices last month to Largo and Landover Mall. The board of Dimensions Healthcare System, which oversees county-owned medical facilities, will consider the choice this week. A 259-bed, 700,000-plus-square-foot hospital is planned with a full-service medical complex and trauma center, funded with $450 million in bond financing, including about $200 million each from the state and the county. The hospital could open in 2017.

U.S. grant supports Bloede Dam removal

A $3.57 million grant awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to Washington, D.C.-based American Rivers, an organization that works to protect and restore the nation’s rivers and streams, will be used to support the removal of the historic but outdated Bloede Dam on the Patapsco River straddling Howard and Baltimore counties, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced. Removal of the dam will open up 44 miles of spawning habitat for erring, alewife and American shad, and more than 180 miles of habitat for American eel, according to DNR. Removing the dam will also eliminate a public safety hazard — swimmers have died in the hazardous currents below the dam.

PERSONNEL 

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust, of Rockville, a self-administered, self-managed, equity real estate investment trust investing in income-producing properties in the Greater Washington metro region, named Paul T. McDermott as the company’s new president and CEO, succeeding George F. “Skip” McKenzie, who retired after holding the post since 2007. McDermott, 51, is the former senior vice president and managing director of The Rockefeller Group, where he headed the domestic acquisitions team for Rockefeller Group Investment Management Corp., the investment management arm of the developer, owner and operator of global real estate. McDermott has also held executive posts with PNC Realty Investors, Freddie Mac and Lend Lease Real Estate Investments. McDermott will assume his responsibilities on Oct. 1, at which point McKenzie will officially resign from the board, although he will continue to play an advisory role during the transition.

Douglas G. Hoffman

St. John Properties Inc., of Woodlawn, a real estate development and management company, has named Douglas G. Hoffman as senior vice president, property management. Hoffman has more than 25 years of diversified property and asset management-related experience. He was previously president of BPG Management Co. L.P., a full-service real estate investment property management company that provides property management services for more than 10 million square feet of space on the East Coast. In his new position, Hoffman will direct day-to-day operations of St. John Properties’ national portfolio of nearly 17 million square feet of commercial office, R&D/flex, retail and warehouse space, overseeing a staff of more than 40 property management employees.
Cassidy Turley, a commercial real estate services provider, announced that Graham Savage has joined the firm as associate with the Capital Markets Team. He will be responsible for coordinating and assisting in all steps of the investment sales transactions, including the preparation of marketing and offering materials. Previously, Savage spent seven years with Legg Mason’s Capital Management as an associate analyst.

LEASES 

Susquehanna Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Lititz, Pa., has signed a lease with Woodlawn-based St. John Properties Inc. for 12,750 square feet of space at 11115 Dolfield Blvd., a two-story, 71,400-square-foot, Class A office building in Owings Mills. The bank intends to relocate its mortgage division to this building from the Hunt Valley area, with an expected opening later this month. The lease increases the overall occupancy of the Owings Mills building to 95 percent. Will McCullough, leasing agent for St. John Properties, represented the landlord, and Mark Deering of MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services represented the tenant in this transaction.
Merritt Properties LLC reported these recently signed leases:
* Inter-Lux Inc., an international lighting design company, leased 21,918 square feet of space (17,370 square feet warehouse, 4,548 square feet office) at Beltway Business Park, 3741 Commerce Drive, Suites 306-308, in Halethorpe. CBRE’s Mike Roden represented the tenant in the transaction. Merritt’s in-house leasing team of Jamie Campbell, Liz Tarran-Jones, Vince Bagli and Steve Shaw represented the landlord.
* BMC Services LLC, a heating, air conditioning and plumbing services contractor, leased 1,500 square feet of space (855 warehouse, 645 office) at Beltway Business Park, 3741 Commerce Drive, Suite 113, in Halethorpe. Merritt’s in-house leasing team of Jamie Campbell, Liz Tarran-Jones, Vince Bagli and Steve Shaw represented the landlord. The tenant’s representative was not identified.

10 Ways To Make More Money In Real Estate

There are literally 100s of creative ways to make money in real estate. Real estate investing stretches from raw land that can subdivided to large commercial properties run by property managers. It can also involve just owning the mineral rights to drill for oil, natural gas or other highly profitable minerals. The only limit to make money in real estate is your imagination.
Most beginning investors start to make money in real estate by investing in a single family home. You can make a decent profit this way. But you should at least be familiar with other ways you can make money in real estate.

A good strategy to make money in real estate is to gradually increase the number of units you control.
Below Are Ten Ways You Can Make Money In Real Estate

1. Duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes. These are a natural progression from single-family houses. They offer a decent opportunity to finance your investments. As long as the building has less than four units, it's considered a residential property. Anything over five units is considered commercial and the lending rules change significantly.
2. Small to medium apartment buildings. These are between 5 and 50 rental units. The advantage here is strong cash flow. It's a great way to make money in real estate.
3. Mobile home parks. These can be inexpensive to invest in and offer tremendous cash flow. You can buy individual units inside a park or buy the entire park. Of course, the entire park is much more expensive. However, beginning with individual units can start as low as $4,000 for an older unit.
4. Recreational vehicle parks. Not only can this be a very good way to make money in real estate but it offers a laid-back lifestyle when you manage the property. Most of the people you are dealing with are on vacation or retired. They aren't getting stressed out over the small stuff.

Notes. Maybe you want to make money in real estate but you don't want to actually own or manage the properties. Today's tight lending market creates a great opportunity to be a lender that holds notes secured by real estate. A completely passive income.
Commercial Opportunities to Make Money in Real Estate

1. Commercial real estate investing is more complicated but there is also more money to be made in every deal. You too can make money in real estate by investing in commercial properties.
2. Motels and hotels. These are a great way to make money in real estate when they are located in tourist areas or where business people frequently travel.
3. Small commercial properties. A good starting point to make money in real estate here are small strip malls and small office buildings. Your tenants will be long term.
4. Industrial properties. These can be manufacturing sites, warehouses, or distribution centers. Typically, the tenant is responsible for most maintenance and repairs.
5. NNN leases. These tend to be larger businesses and the tenant a large stable company that doesn't want to own the building for tax purposes. They lease for 30 years at a time and are fully responsible all expenses including insurance and property taxes.
6. New commercial construction. This can be a highly profitable way to make money in real estate. However, it takes serious knowledge of the industry and strong financial backing. You need to be able to forecast what type of building will be needed a year or more from now, along with where to best build it. You're also going to have a lot of permitting issues and other governmental regulations. This one is not for the beginner or feint of heart.