I'm definitely excited about what's coming
Happy Friday, Bright Builders!
Pardon the delay in this week's newsletter. It's back-to-school week, and so my time has been spent figuring out pick-up and drop-off, which child goes to which classroom, and all of the 100 other things that parents need to know every year so they can avoid wandering blindly around a building.
Today is the last newsletter in our theoretical build! Last week, we finished up with asset management and… here we are.
On the one hand, I can hardly believe it. And on the other hand…yes!
Can I say that was a lot of work?
We started this newsletter almost exactly 12 months ago. 52 weeks later, and some 50,000 words later (!!!), we have collectively thought about, discussed, and brainstormed a theoretical development. You learned how to walk your dreamland, how to negotiate with a seller, how to think about design development…
The list goes on and on, so I'm definitely not going to list everything here :-)
When I started this project, it was just kind of a lark. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But I can tell you that it has been enormous fun meeting so many of you online, through email, and at conferences. We started out the first day with, if I remember correctly, about fifty readers, and today, we have more than eight thousand future developers reading the newsletter.
Now, I am not abandoning you here.
Of course not.
But I am going to take the next two weeks off because, as you know, if you’ve reached out to me by email recently, I have my head down helping folks with post-production on the Bright Build Masterclass. We’ve been filming for the past month.
Why a master class?
About halfway through our theoretical build, I realized that there was SO much more to talk about that wasn't feasible in the newsletter format and that really needed to be taught in person, on the screen, and in discussion forums. So, I sat down and mapped out an insanely comprehensive and user-friendly course for future Bright Builders.
I'll tell you more about that later, but just like the newsletter, it has been super fun to build, and I am very excited about what it means for the aspiring developer community. I dug really deep into some thorny issues like construction loans and raising equity and managing construction and I paid a ton of attention to all of the questions that came my way through comments or email as folks were reading the newsletter.
And I have to say it has been fascinating to find out who all of you are. There is such a wide range of expertise amongst us—everyone from mortgage brokers to real estate agents to private equity, CEOs, COOs, and 20-somethings just dipping their toes into the developer world.
Every time I talk with someone, I’m astounded by the various fields they're in. Apparently multifamily development is a long-term dream for a lot of people! So, as I said, the party's not over.
I will continue with this newsletter, answering your questions, thinking and theorizing about multi-family development. We will definitely jump into some market analysis, the housing crisis, and a lot of larger-picture issues with sustained attention to precisely what they mean for you as a developer.
We’ll bring some guests on.
So… you’re here. And this is still the right place to be :-)
If you have questions about the course, I'll send out more information fairly soon.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Peace,
You probably found me through Twitter, but if not, make sure you’re following me on social media. I’ll also make announcements there!
X: seandsweeney