Power
Landlord. Land-lord. How do you like the sound of that? Well, how about lord of the landlords? Because that's what you'll be if you become a hotshot real estate developer. If you're looking at things from an Alexander-the-Great sort of perspective, then in a way you could see the land you own as your personal little empire.
If you own the land, you decide what happens on it. Of course, often you're simply managing the property for some higher authority, like the company you work for. Even in such cases, you can still exert some dominance over your tenants.
There's also another possibility: flipping the property. No, not flipping like a dolphin flips. We like relating things to dolpins as much as the next guy, but they have nothing to do with this. We're talking about the type of developer who simply buys, builds, and sells.
You may buy a house in rough condition, rehab it quickly using cost-effective materials, and put it back on the market to reap a decent profit. Or, you might see a defunct gas station on a busy street and see an opportunity to get it running again, then sell it to another opportunist as a sort of middleman.
You'll have less power as a serial property flipper than as a landlord, but you could end up with more power in the form of money. And be honest: that's probably what you were looking for anyway.