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10/27/2026

Ian Joseph first instinct was to keep 100% of the equity. His first piece of advice now? Don’t do anything yourself.

Ian went from commercial banking and real estate investing to turning 26 acres in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia into Branch Berkeley Springs, an 11 unit micro resort built around nature, connection, and local hospitality. Zoning restrictions, construction headaches, and financing delays all showed up along the way. So did the partners, contractors, and community members who helped him push through.

His take on why so many of us start out trying to go solo: social media shows you the individual. You see the founder with the following and assume they did it all themselves. What you don’t see is the long list of people who got them there.

People will be the best and worst part of any project. They’ll give you gray hair. They’ll also be the reason the work feels worth doing.

If you’re still trying to hold every piece of your first deal by yourself, this is your sign to start building the team instead.

🎧 Full episode: link in bio
📥 Grab the Developer Vault: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel | Real Estate Developer & Raphael Collazo

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10/18/2026

Today’s shoreland setback is over 100 feet off the water. Eddie’s cabins sit about 10 feet off the water.

Eddie Gonnella of Getogether Stays started investing in 2019 with small BRRRR deals and a $75K tax foreclosure that taught him cheap properties usually come with expensive problems. That education paid off when he found an abandoned 1940s iron workers camp on a lake in Maine and turned it into a 10 unit hospitality property.

What he didn’t fully understand at first was how rare the place was. The cabin placement, the grandfathered right to draw water from the lake, none of it would be approved today. Due diligence on septic and building restrictions showed him the real asset wasn’t the buildings. It was the rights attached to them.

He’s now taking those lessons into an 8 acre resort project. His advice for anyone stuck at the starting line? Vacuum the truck. Do the next small thing and keep moving.

When you look at an older property, don’t just ask what’s wrong with it. Ask what it’s allowed to do that nothing new ever will. And if you’re still waiting to feel ready, you won’t. Eddie built himself into a developer one small deal at a time. Start with the next step in front of you.

🎧 Full episode: link in bio
📥 Grab the Developer Vault: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel | Real Estate Developer & Raphael Collazo

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10/06/2026

A couple times a year, everything breaks at once. That’s the job.

Andy Warnock of The Westwood Collective | Real Estate Developer spent nearly two decades in commercial real estate finance and built a portfolio of nearly 2,600 apartment units. He didn’t get there clean. Failed deals, the 2008 crash, partnerships that tested him, insurance mistakes that cost him. Every one of those became a lesson he still builds on. Today he’s putting that experience back into small town communities through mixed use projects, restaurants, golf lounges, basketball facilities, retail, and places for people to actually gather.

And he’ll be the first to tell you he still has days where he wants out. Tenant issues, windstorms, sewer backups, all landing in the same week. His first thought? “I’m selling it all. Why am I doing this?” Then the storm passes and he remembers the other 360 days of the year are pretty good to him. So he rolls up his sleeves and keeps going.

That’s the part nobody puts on the brochure. Andy calls it building a patience muscle, and it comes with a side of perseverance. His E + R = O mindset (Event + Response = Outcome) is how he gets through the rough stretches without making permanent decisions on a bad day.

Development is not the easy way out. It’s the long game and the hard game, and the people who win are the ones who stay in it. If you’re in the middle of your own storm right now, this one’s for you.

🎧 Full episode: link in bio
📥 Grab the Developer Vault: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel | Real Estate Developer & Raphael Collazo
Guest: Andy Warnock

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10/05/2026

Home is your first space. Work is your second. So where’s your third?

A third space is anywhere outside home and work where people actually gather. Parks, rec centers, courts, libraries, community fields. The places where you run into your neighbors and build real connection. And in a lot of towns, they’re disappearing or were never built at all. Most of what’s left is a bar or a restaurant, and that’s not a third space for everyone.

On this episode, Kristi breaks down how ELEVATE SWFL | Sports + Community is changing the game (no pun intended). Phase one is all about activating adult leagues in beach volleyball, basketball, soccer, kickball, and pickleball, and people are flocking in search of community and a good workout. Some are driving an hour just to play basketball because the local park doesn’t feel safe and the gym courts turn into 20 minute arguments over a foul.

Here’s the part people miss. When most folks hear “development,” they picture rows of stick built homes. But development also means the courts, fields, and gathering places that make a neighborhood worth living in. If you’re building community, you have to build the places where community happens.

What’s the third space your town is missing? Drop it below.

Ready to build? Shoot us a dm! 🚀

🎧 Full episode: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel | Real Estate Developer & Raphael Collazo

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09/28/2026

Most first time developers expect the city to be the obstacle. Will Hanrahan found a partner.

Will bought a one acre industrial lot in Lexington, Kentucky off Facebook Marketplace for $435,000. With the city willing to bet on a first timer, it became The Rail Yard, a $7.5M mixed use project with 32 homes and commercial space.

As Will puts it, programs like this don’t just fund 12 units. They fund the start of a developer who goes on to build a lot more housing.

What a helpful city can do for new developers:
📍 One real point of contact
📍 Early meetings before you sink money into the wrong plan
📍 Preapproved building plans
📍 Zoning guidance on what’s possible
📍 Brownfield and cleanup programs
📍 Gap funding, fee deferrals, and tax abatements

Curious to learn more about pre-approved plans? The Happy Urbanist just broke down how Claremore, Oklahoma is doing preapproved plans and why it matters. Worth a watch!

Sitting on a deal that feels too big? Start with a coffee at your planning office.

🎧 Full episode: link in bio
📥 Grab the Developer Vault: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel | Real Estate Developer & Raphael Collazo
Guest: Will Hanrahan Railyard

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09/20/2026

Our first National Meetup brought together people working on completely different projects, in completely different markets, from 8 states across the country. Pennsylvania, Washington, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Arizona. All in one room.

What stuck with us most was the range. Everyone there is solving a different problem in their own community, and there is something about seeing that in person that you cannot get from a podcast episode. Different backgrounds, different projects, all pointed at the same goal.

We left inspired by what everyone is building. 2027 meetup is heading to the Tampa Bay area this September, and we cannot wait to see who’s in the room next.

Grab the Developer Vault: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel & Raphael Collazo

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09/15/2026

“Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity.” That’s how YJ explains landing his first development deal, and once you hear the story, you’ll see exactly what he means.

YJ came from a background in tech and marketing, nowhere near real estate development, when he took on 37 acres near California’s Western States Trail. No years of experience. No massive network. No pile of cash sitting in the bank. But his skill set paired perfectly with his partner’s, the location happened to be the endurance capital of the world, and YJ was the local who understood how to put it all together. Some people would call that luck. YJ calls it preparation finally meeting its moment.

With his partner, he’s now building Foresthill Basecamp , a hospitality project with 10 modular cabins, saunas, cold plunges, and recovery amenities built specifically for trail runners and endurance athletes. They tested the concept before ever breaking ground, running just $20 a day in Instagram ads and collecting deposits from future guests to prove the demand was real.

If you’ve been waiting to feel “ready” before you start, this episode is a reminder that readiness usually looks like this: showing up prepared when the right opportunity finally appears. Want your own version of that preparedness? The Developer Vault is our free toolkit of templates, checklists, and resources for exactly this kind of first project, so you’re the one who’s ready when your opportunity shows up.

Grab the Developer Vault: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel | Real Estate Developer & Raphael Collazo
Guest: YJ Tung

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09/13/2026

5 Women. 4 Lanes. One Room.
Real estate development doesn’t look one way, and this room proved it.

Five women, four different development lanes, one shared conversation about building where it matters. Their backgrounds are just as varied as their projects, ranging from corporate attorney to banker, proof that there’s no single path into this industry. From mixed use and community focused projects to bringing back Main Street, tiny home communities entering their next phase, and a cottage cluster taking shape in the heart of Portland, each of these women is proving there’s more than one way to build something lasting.

The through line across every project: creative structures, community focus, and a willingness to build differently than the playbook says you should.

The question remains: what are you building?

Swipe through to meet each of them, then grab the Developer Vault, our guide built alongside a resource from each guest who has been on the podcast, so you can put what they know to work in your own projects.

Grab the Developer Vault: link in bio

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09/09/2026

Stop buying the course. Start having the conversation. It really is that simple.

On this episode, Alan Sestito of SES Residential breaks down the thing most people skip when they’re trying to grow: just find someone in your market who is already doing what you want to do, and talk to them. No funnel. No paid program. Just a real conversation.

Alan explains that this is genuinely part of how relationships in this business get built. Figure out who in your market is doing what you want to do and see if you can get thirty minutes with them. That’s the whole strategy.

Here’s the part that surprises people: nine times out of ten, you walk out of that conversation with new knowledge, a new approach, and something that actually moves you toward your goal. We overcomplicate this constantly. We think we need to buy books, sign up for courses, join a mastermind before we’re allowed to start. Alan’s take is the opposite. The access you need is usually one honest conversation away.

If you’re stuck on a deal, a market, or a next step, this episode is your reminder to just ask.

Grab the Developer Resource Vault if you’re ready to level up: link in bio

Hosted by: Kristi Kandel | Real Estate Developer & Raphael Collazo
Guest: Alan Sestito

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