I started out as an estate agent in 1987 with what’s now Haart but after switching to property development in 2000 I’ve so far developed over 900 units with a combined resale value of £285 million.

There are several skills learnt as an estate agent that provide solid foundations for any novice developer.

One of the most important is being able to accurately value a seller’s home. This will stand you in good stead for when you need to assess the value of a potential project and forecast its GDV (gross development value).

Another great transferable skill is the ability to negotiate with buyers and sellers, as once in you’re developing, this expertise will be needed when negotiating material prices and contractors’ rates.

As an agent, selling a property is a great achievement. But if the mortgage lenders surveyor highlights any major defects or potential areas of concern you will need to understand the most practical and cost-effective ways to resolve the issue as this will assist in keeping a sale together.

It’s also important to invest in knowledge and having a greater understanding of the legal processes will pay dividends.

Understanding restrictive covenants and solutions to things like defective leases can unlock a project that many would walk away from.

Over the odds

Lacking knowledge can be costly and one story that springs to mind is a small developer that paid over the odds for an office-to-resi scheme close to one of London’s major airports.

In a rush to secure the deal ahead of other interested parties he failed to recognise that, although planning was in place to convert the building into apartments, due to the fact the building was located on the edge of an industrial estate, no lenders were prepared to advance mortgages to prospective buyers.

Unable to refinance the building to repay the bridging lender the developer sadly lost everything he had invested.

A costly error that could have been avoided with greater knowledge and thorough due diligence.

The greater understanding you have of any business the more likely you will be to succeed and, while there are more disciplines to development than those learnt in an estate agency, the foundational lessons learnt are invaluable and timeless.

The art of the deal is finding the diamond in the rough when it comes to finding your next site.

Sometimes the obvious potential can be staring you in the face, but it takes experience and know-how to instantly calculate the risk vs reward.

Our biggest success is finding hidden gems that we know we can take through planning to enhance the value or even secure an underappreciated asset that could then be flipped for an immediate profit.

To provide advice and guidance, as well as shaping future developers, Bruce and the Property Experts team will be holding a one-day Masterclass Event on Wednesday 16^th March from 10am. More information from www.propertyexperts.co.uk