🍾 New Year’s Resolution: Develop Your First Real Estate Project

Learn to source, underwrite, finance & design your first real estate project in 2025

On January 27-28, we’re hosting Thesis Driven’s course, Introduction to Real Estate Development, live in NYC!

It provides aspiring real estate developers a first-person POV experience sourcing, underwriting, designing and financing a first real estate project—teaching both the hard and soft skills required to bring a real estate project to life… without a lot of money or experience. Learn more.

Many dream of developing a real estate project in their local communities. But getting started is hard because the process is unclear and accessing capital feels overwhelming.

Let’s fix that together in 2025!

Our case-based course simulates the experience of developing a local real estate project through the POV of a new real estate developer, Dana. Students will work alongside Dana as she navigates the process of buying and redeveloping 100 Berrett Street–a small multifamily building in Big Apple City–while overcoming common personal, financial and professional challenges along the way. And ultimately, gaining the skills necessary to develop their first project.

The course will cover:

• Market Analysis: How does a developer assess opportunities in a local market, and what are the key factors to consider when choosing the right development project

• Project Underwriting: How to evaluate the financial feasibility of a development project, including costs, revenue projections, and expected returns

• Raising Debt & Equity: Understand the strategies for securing debt and raising equity from investors, and how to structure deals that attract capital

• Deal Negotiations: Master the art of negotiating purchase terms, financing, and leases to get the best outcomes for your project

• Hiring Architects & General Contractors: Dive into the process of selecting and managing the right architects and contractors to bring your vision to life on time and on budget

• Delivering the Property: Explore the final steps in development, from construction oversight to lease-up and turning over the finished property to tenants

Through Dana’s POV experience, the course provides students with a step-by-step playbook to do it themselves, with interactive individual and group exercises to enhance learning along the way.

At the end, students will design and present their own business plan for a live or fictional project—and be provided access to an ongoing online community for students to continue networking, exchanging notes and sharing wins as they pursue their development journeys.

You can go here to sign up and learn more about the course.

The Case Study: 100 Berrett Street

Dana is stuck. She’s sunk two years into law school (and student loans). And while she’s made Law Review and has two six-figure job offers, she wants to quit and become a developer.

Every morning she drives to school down Berrett Street, the main retail strip in a gentrifying neighborhood in Big Apple City. On one corner, a cafe & speakeasy has just opened in an old gas station. And across the street, a former church is being converted to loft-style condos.

Dana wants to be part of this change. She wants to be creative and in-charge. She imagines spending her days on her feet–touring properties and meeting with retailers, architects and contractors. Then spending her nights on the computer–underwriting projects, reviewing agreements and plowing through her inbox.

But that dream feels impossible.

She doesn’t have enough savings for a down payment on a 1-bedroom condo, let alone a commercial property. Plus, her family and friends would think she was insane to walk away from her law career at this point. And even if she did, how would she survive without a salary?

Enter Thesis Driven’s Introduction to Real Estate Development.

We’ll walk with Dana through every step of the deal–helping her put together her business plan, team, and investors to successfully close on her first property.

Why do this and who is it for?

Taking the leap into real estate development requires a unique combination of sales, marketing, legal and general entrepreneurship skills–plus the confidence to navigate the unknown.

But unfortunately there is no guidebook to develop these hard and soft skill sets, leaving budding real estate developers in the dark and on their own.

We’ve personally been there and know the challenges!

So we created this course to help students take their first steps of their journey with confidence, providing fundamental skills, knowledge and exercises that don’t exist in the market today for new real estate developers.

We expect this knowledge will be broadly applicable to anyone seeking a real estate development career, but specifically to new & aspiring real estate entrepreneurs and those real estate agents, architects, lawyers and contractors looking to move to the principal side of the table.

What does it cost?

The live bootcamp in NYC is $1,500 (and limited to 25 students). Spots are mostly filled, but we’re still accepting applications for the live cohort and next online cohort. Sign up now.

—Paul Stanton