California’s housing shortage has been decades in the making. SB 9, along with related state laws, is designed to unlock new opportunities for small-scale infill development in established neighborhoods. For developers and investors, these changes open up a pathway that avoids many of the delays and costs that have slowed traditional projects.

Every month or two a student or recent graduate asks me for advice about how to get a job as a real estate professional. My advice is always the same: find someone who is doing what you want to be doing in 5–10 years and try to get a job working for that person, even if the pay is not as much as you would like. It is more important to move directly toward your longer-term goal than it is to get paid more and have to change direction later.