Entitlements & Land Planning

Designs entitlement strategies that align land plans, political realities, and capital constraints.
Leads pre‑application, staff, and public hearing processes with cities, agencies, & communities.
Coordinates full consultant teams to keep submittals clean and defensible.
Navigates zoning changes, plan amendments, and overlays to unlock highest and best use.
Negotiates conditions of approval to protect the project.

Development & Construction

Entitlements & Land Planning

Translates entitlement packages into horizontal and vertical development plans.
Builds realistic pre‑con budgets and schedules tied to absorption, capital requirements.
Runs GC/CM selection, bid processes, and contract negotiations with clear scopes.
Drives value engineering without compromising core positioning.
Manages RFIs & submittals to hold schedule and budget.

Acquisitions & Due Diligence

Sources and screens land opportunities through brokers, principals, and off‑market relationships.
Underwrites deals with a strict entitlement, construction, and capital formation lens.
Leads due diligence across title, environmental, soils, utilities, traffic, and political risk.
Structures JV, debt, and preferred equity to align land risk with capital expectations.

Since 2003, RJ Hernandez has established himself as a leader in the residential real estate development and construction industry. Throughout his career, RJ has worked with Fortune 500 real estate investment firms and he is the Best Selling Author of the Land Planner's & Developers Guidebook.

$1.1B+ in residential assets capitalized, advised, developed.
20+ years focused on land, entitlements, and ground‑up housing development.
Entitlement timelines averaging ~38.7% faster than local jurisdictional baselines.
Most projects approved within 2–3 plan‑check cycles, through methodical quality control.
Project scale from 8-922 units per community, across suburban, infill, and master‑planned sites.
Experience across for‑sale, build‑for‑rent, and affordable housing strategies.

RJ is a Southern California native, and has lived and worked throughout Southern California. Today, when not negotiating deals or designing homes, he dedicates time to mentoring youth and advocating for education reform. His vision is a better world for everyone, made up of self-empowerment, kindness and respect. He enjoys mentorship, salsa dancing, travel, reading non-fiction, writing, and spending quality time with his two daughters. He lives in Newport Beach, CA.

CURRICULUM VITAE - SUMMARY

Award-winning, results-driven expert in residential real estate developments with 20+ years mastering land acquisition, investment, land planning, entitlements, design, regulatory compliance (CEQA), and construction. Experience & technical knowledge spans entitlements, acquisitions, land development & building construction for thousands of residential units, subdivisions, & amenities (Single Family & Multi-Family Homes). Through the years, has consistently secured Planning/Engineering/Building Dept. approvals within 2–3 review cycles through own direct, methodical quality control review of plans/comments, efficient budget stewardship of budgets ranging from $4MM–$20MM, and effectual critical path scheduling for up to approx. 20 complex projects at a time. The track record is proven in building agency trust, de risking projects, establishing standards & project trackers, and AI-integrations to drive cadence, speed, communication, strategy, & management toward business plan metrics.

Career built on intentional cross training, seeking mentors, & developing a greater understanding of the perspectives of co-stakeholders. This has been key toward broadening capability and value creation. Enjoyment of solving entitlement puzzles, standardizing product, & aligning stakeholders to move deals and projects forward. Operating philosophy: adopt best practices, solidify & outwork expectations, and build positive working relationships. Learned directly from leaders at Centex, K. Hov, KB, Richmond American, LGI, Century, from some of the industry's best operators.

EXPERIENCE

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

Forward Planning & Entitlements: CEQA compliance; tentative maps; specific plans; conditions of approval; plan check coordination; final map approval; plotting; public hearing presentations

Land Development & Construction: Oversight of horizontal improvements & offsite improvements; dry/wet utility coordination; points of connection verification; inspector coordination; bond exoneration

Acquisitions & Due Diligence: Site feasibility; entitlements risk identification/mitigation; underwriting inputs; schedule & budget creation; municipal & seller engagement; corporate investment presentations

Project Operations: Multi‑project portfolio management of up to 20 at a time; Project sizes have ranged from 55-1045 lots (avg. 250 lots); Established & enforced Standard Operating Procedures, including architectural, landscape & improvement plan standards, toward consistency & efficiency

Project Controls: Created project/priority tracking systems managing toward business plan metrics & communicative reporting; Management of regular Division staff meetings; Utilization of MS Excel & Outlook workflows (email/calendar/notes, categories/flags)

Product & Site Design Leadership: Site planning, comprehensive reviews of architectural designs, civil engineering improvement plans & landscape architecture to value engineer, constructability review, conflict avoidance, & align elements with the market & the City

Special Districts & Financing: CFD formation & annexations; SCIP coordination; agency negotiations

Procurement & Vendor Management: Scopes of work; RFPs/solicitation; bid analysis; contracting/award; scheduling/managing: civil & soils engineers, landscape architects, LD subcontractors, vendors

Government, Stakeholder & Community Relations: City/county/state/federal agency coordination; school districts & utilities; HOA interactions & property management

Regulatory & Legal Documentation: DRE & FHA approvals; public report & disclosure packages; CC&Rs development; conditions tracking from start to project closeout

Leadership & Teaming: Department leadership of 6 at a time; hiring & coaching incl. underperformers

Relationships: Established trusted relationships with governing agencies and municipalities, including the Cities of Menifee, Riverside, Wildomar, Jurupa Valley, San Jacinto and more.

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE

2003

BACHELORS OF ARTS, SOCIOLOGY

Commencement Speaker

Accepted to Honors Program

Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society

Golden Key International Honor Society

UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, ENGLAND

2001-2002

STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM

FOCUS ON BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

RJ HERNANDEZ

Entitlements & Land Planning

Entitlements & Land Planning

Development & Construction

Entitlements & Land Planning

Acquisitions & Due Diligence

Acquisitions & Due Diligence

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CURRICULUM VITAE - SUMMARY

EXPERIENCE

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION

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