Why Land Is Always the First Asset

My background wasn't originally in land development.

I started in the construction industry with concrete coatings and eventually expanded into other services. Later, I got involved in the fitness business, where we grew from one location to eight, serving roughly 20,000 members with a team of about 150 employees before eventually exiting.

Growing that business taught me a lot about people, systems, operations, and what it takes to scale.

But it also reinforced something important.

I didn't want to spend my entire career just creating another job for myself.

I wanted to build businesses that could operate with good people in place, while also creating opportunities to own assets that had value beyond the day-to-day operations.

Real estate became a big part of that thinking.

When most people look at a development, they see the finished homes, roads, landscaping, and buildings.

As a developer, you're looking at everything that needs to happen before any of that exists.

Where is the property located? What can actually be built there? Is there access to water, sewer, roads, and utilities? What does the city or county allow? What will it cost to develop?

Those are the questions that matter early.

A piece of ground might look like a great opportunity until you start running the numbers.

And a property that doesn't look particularly exciting at first might have potential if the location, infrastructure, demand, and economics all line up.

That's where the work starts.

One of the things I enjoy most about development is that it brings so many different pieces together.

You have engineers, builders, contractors, city officials, lenders, investors, and a lot of people working toward the same end result.

At Hess Properties, we've worked on residential developments in Idaho, including communities such as River Ranch, Purple Sage Estates, Cascade Hills, and Timber Hills.

Every project has its own challenges.

You might have a great property, but the infrastructure costs don't work. You might have the right plan, but approvals take longer than expected. Or market conditions change while you're working through the development process.

That's just part of the business.

You need good people around you who understand their roles and know how to solve problems.

I've learned over the years that you can't scale anything worthwhile if every decision has to run through you.

The same principles that helped me grow other businesses apply to development: build the right team, create the right systems, and make sure everyone understands what you're trying to accomplish.

One of the biggest reasons I like real estate is the flexibility that can come with owning or controlling the right property.

Depending on the location, zoning, and market, land can create opportunities for residential development, commercial uses, or future projects.

But that doesn't mean every piece of ground is a good investment.

There's risk in land development. You have carrying costs, financing, approvals, infrastructure requirements, and market conditions you can't control.

That's why I believe you have to be disciplined.

It's easy to fall in love with what a property could become. The harder part is making sure the numbers make sense before you commit.

I've always liked looking at opportunities from different angles.

What can we do with this property? What problems do we need to solve? Who do we need on the team? And does the opportunity still make sense if the timeline changes?

If you can't answer those questions, you probably need to do more work.

As I've gotten further into business and real estate, my perspective on success has changed.

Early on, a lot of your focus is on getting the business going, finding customers, creating revenue, and making things work.

And you have to go through that stage.

But eventually, you start thinking about what all that work is leading toward.

For me, it's not just about building another company or completing another development.

It's about building assets, creating opportunities for good people, and developing projects that add value to the communities around them.

I like seeing a piece of land go from an idea on paper to an actual neighborhood where families can build homes and create memories.

There's something rewarding about that.

It's tangible. You can drive by it. You can see what the team accomplished.

And if you do it right, that work can continue creating value long after the project is finished.

I don't believe every entrepreneur needs to become a land developer. There are plenty of great businesses and ways to invest.

But I do believe in understanding what you own, what you're building, and how the pieces fit together.

Land development happens to be one of the ways I put that philosophy into practice.

It takes patience, capital, the right partnerships, and a willingness to work through problems that don't always have easy answers.

The goal isn't just to buy dirt and hope it becomes worth more.

That's the part of this business I enjoy most.