Are entitlements difficult to secure? The answer is yes. Then why not purchase property that has already been entitled? You can, and most developers do. But you can make a lot of money by entitling property for yourself or for others without the financing or capital risk that other areas of real estate require. Entitlement can be a profitable area of real estate just by relying on your learned skills. Your profits have nothing to do with how much money you have to buy real estate.
There are three secrets to entitlements that lead to success and great profitability. You will hear them from me more than once in this chapter. Please remember:
- Knowledge
- Knowledge
- Knowledge
How do you obtain this knowledge? To quote from J. R. R. Tolkien (with 
apologies to The Lord of the Rings), “The tale grew in the telling.” The way I gained my knowledge was by starting slowly and deliberately, and from there I worked my way to a comfort level where I could begin to take action. You can start and grow this way. too. Only I’m going to make it easier for you with my reality-based Detailed Entitlement Process. Each area is based on what I’ve learned, and these guidelines continue to serve me well. The remainder of this chapter is about the Process and it contains everything I do to profit from entitlements.
You’ll find this Process to be a huge advantage as you learn. But, it will be only as valuable as your willingness to put in the time and rely on self-motivation and determination. There are no shortcuts to building a knowledge base, but there are long-term gains to be made. Give yourself at least six months to acquire the foundation necessary to succeed.