My professor ended class this morning with a quote.
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.
– Mark Twain
Larger risks come larger rewards. To take these risks, you need a healthy disregard for conventional wisdom. Being unaware of things that can go wrong can be an asset, as long you believe that it will work.
More than anything, our first class emphasized how real estate is a people business with many intangible risks. While there are tools to evaluate which deals are most attractive, successful execution will be based largely on our ability to work well with others on our team (e.g. bankers, architects, contractors, surveyors, lawyers, ...) and in government (e.g. inspectors). With so many critical relationships, it's no wonder that being behind schedule and over budget is seen as an inevitability.