The Finance Fine Print That Nearly Cost $200,000 | EP 279

Development finance has its own language and plenty of fine print. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton work through real finance questions from mentoring students, names removed, so you know what to ask before you sign. Bob explains why construction interest should be charged on what you have drawn and…

Rookie Mistakes To Avoid In Property Development | EP 278

After more than 277 episodes, the same questions keep coming up. So this episode is a little bit different. Hilary asks the questions new developers ask us most, and you hear Bob's answers straight from the archive episodes they came from. Bob's own rookie mistake: thinking the market never change…

What Property Developers Don't Tell You About Getting Started | EP 277

New property developers don't know what they don't know. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton walk through a week of real questions from mentoring students, names changed, and the mistakes that were caught before they cost money. A broker who didn't understand development finance and put a feasibility …

Not A Builder? Not A Problem. What Property Developers Actually Do | EP 276

A lot of people think property developers are builders. Most are not. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton unpack what a developer actually does, week to week, and why you do not need a construction background, a trade or a degree to do it. Bob describes a developer's job in one sentence, walks through …

Cheap Decisions, Expensive Consequences: Cutting Corners in Property Development | EP 275

Everyone wants to save money on a development, but there is a big difference between being smart with your money and penny pinching. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton work through where property developers can sensibly save, and where cutting corners ends up costing far more. Bob covers choosing betw…

You Don't Need to Be Ready to Start Property Development (Here's What You Do Need) | EP 274

Most people who want to do property development are waiting for something: enough money, enough knowledge, the right market, the right site, enough confidence. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton unpack what ready really looks like, and why you are probably closer than you think. Bob explains why he wa…

Are you the weak link in your Property Development? Decisions, Setbacks and Confidence | EP 273

Property development is a process, but woven through it are the skills that make the process happen: making decisions when nothing is certain, leading a team of experts, knowing your own triggers, and building the confidence to act. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton pick up where last week's people-s…

The Best People Skills In Property Development | Ep: 272

Property development is a people game. Negotiation, conflict, getting people on site, keeping a builder onside. None of it appears in the feasibility, and Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton argue it decides outcomes just as often as the numbers do. Prompted by a new mentoring student who gets excited …

Are You Walking Away From Deals You Could Actually Do? (Joint Ventures Explained) | EP 271

In this episode Bob and Hilary unpack Joint Ventures. Bob goes back to his first two projects, both joint ventures. The first was a vendor finance deal with a landowner named Tony, who told him "money's the easiest part" and then showed him how to do a four-lot subdivision with a second mortgage…

Can ChatGPT do your Property Development Feasibility? (We tested it live!) | EP 270

Can AI do a property development feasibility for you? Hilary Saxton and Aaron Ralph put the newest ChatGPT model to the test, live on screen. They hand it a real duplex site they have already developed with some of their students and sold and ask it to work out whether the deal stacks up. The actua…