Real Estate Titans

In Real Estate Titans, Erez Cohen shares the advice and learnings of the world's leading real estate experts to create a guide for becoming a savvier real estate player. Cohen draws on his experience as a research and teacher’s assistant at Wharton Business School with an investment expert—and his mentor—Dr. Peter Linneman. Throughout his career, Cohen has collected first-hand knowledge from meetings with such real estate titans as Ronald Terwilliger, Sam Zell, Joseph Sitt, and numerous others. Cohen wanted to understand how these real estate giants became so successful, so he refined his quest into three critical questions: What inspires these titans to work so hard and reach such extraordinary levels of success? What are the main elements and traits inside of them that propel them to be so grandiose? How have these individuals, who had less resources, succeeded on a much bigger scale than so many of their competitors? Real Estate Titans contains the 7 key lessons distilled from interviews with several of the world’s greatest real estate investors. These critical lessons offer insight into the mindset, tactics, and habits that each of the interviewed titans possess. Once you implement these key ideas—which you won’t find anywhere else—into your business, it will grow exponentially within a matter of months. Real Estate Titans offers an insider’s view into several of the most successful investors on the planet. The book’s compelling stories and lessons show why real estate is such a wonderful and important business, and it also offers a roadmap for becoming a world class real estate player.

The intimate, fly-on-the wall tale of the decline and fall of an America icon With one notable exception, the firms that make up what we know as Wall Street have always been part of an inbred, insular culture that most people only vaguely understand. The exception was Merrill Lynch, a firm that revolutionized the stock market by bringing Wall Street to Main Street, setting up offices in far-flung cities and towns long ignored by the giants of finance. With its “thundering herd” of financial advisers, perhaps no other business, whether in financial services or elsewhere, so epitomized the American spirit. Merrill Lynch was not only “bullish on America,” it was a big reason why so many average Americans were able to grow wealthy by investing in the stock market. Merrill Lynch was an icon. Its sudden decline, collapse, and sale to Bank of America was a shock. How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what does this story of greed, hubris, and incompetence tell us about the culture of Wall Street that continues to this day even though it came close to destroying the American economy? A culture in which the CEO of a firm losing $28 billion pushes hard to be paid a $25 million bonus. A culture in which two Merrill Lynch executives are guaranteed bonuses of $30 million and $40 million for four months’ work, even while the firm is struggling to reduce its losses by firing thousands of employees. Based on unparalleled sources at both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, Greg Farrell’s Crash of the Titans is a Shakespearean saga of three flawed masters of the universe. E. Stanley O’Neal, whose inspiring rise from the segregated South to the corner office of Merrill Lynch—where he engineered a successful turnaround—was undone by his belief that a smooth-talking salesman could handle one of the most difficult jobs on Wall Street. Because he enjoyed O’Neal’s support, this executive was allowed to build up an astonishing $30 billion position in CDOs on the firm’s balance sheet, at a time when all other Wall Street firms were desperately trying to exit the business. After O’Neal comes John Thain, the cerebral, MIT-educated technocrat whose rescue of the New York Stock Exchange earned him the nickname “Super Thain.” He was hired to save Merrill Lynch in late 2007, but his belief that the markets would rebound led him to underestimate the depth of Merrill’s problems. Finally, we meet Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, a street fighter raised barely above the poverty line in rural Georgia, whose “my way or the highway” management style suffers fools more easily than potential rivals, and who made a $50 billion commitment over a September weekend to buy a business he really didn’t understand, thus jeopardizing his own institution. The merger itself turns out to be a bizarre combination of cultures that blend like oil and water, where slick Wall Street bankers suddenly find themselves reporting to a cast of characters straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. BofA’s inbred culture, which perceived New York banks its enemies, was based on loyalty and a good-ol’-boy network in which competence played second fiddle to blind obedience. Crash of the Titans is a financial thriller that puts you in the theater as the historic events of the financial crisis unfold and people responsible for billion of dollars of other people’s money gamble recklessly to enhance their power and their paychecks or to save their own skins. Its wealth of never-before-revealed information and focus on two icons of corporate America make it the book that puts together all the pieces of the Wall Street disaster.

"The challenge is, how do we get somebody 126 years old to get it up?" This was Sam Zell's unique way of saying hello to a large gathering at the Los Angeles Times shortly after taking charge of Tribune Company. "I'm your Viagra, OK?" Even for Sam Zell, one of the greatest contrarian investors, buying Tribune Company was a risky and controversial move. Many saw the purchase of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times by a man who had made his fortune in cargo containers, real estate, fertilizer, and plumbing to be a sign of the coming media apocalypse. Maybe they were frightened by Zell's nickname, "the Grave Dancer." The move didn't seem to make sense for Zell either. Why would an epithet-slinging, motorcycle-riding scrapper-who had started with nothing and worked his way up to a $5 billion real estate fortune-be interested in a declining media company (it would have been another story if Zell had taken over Playboy, issues of which Zell had bought and resold for profit to friends around town when he was a teenager)? Ben Johnson has the answers in this fascinating biography of a uniquely colorful mogul, who is fond of blunt declarations and bold business moves. Johnson also tells the real story of Zell's adventure at the Tribune, that feverish year between his purchase of the ailing company and its declaration of bankruptcy. Between the story of Zell's rise to astounding riches and previously untold details of his conflicts with his employees and investors, Money Talks, Bullsh*t Walks will keep readers alternately laughing and on the edge of their seats. The Quotable Sam Zell "If you're the biggest kid on the block, you can throw your weight around. Of course, I never was the big kid, but I've made up for it over the years." "The true test of an entrepreneur is someone who spends his life constantly testing his limits. The definition of an idiot is someone who has reached their goals." "I don't do business with anybody who's not afraid, and I won't hire anybody who is confident to the point where fear is not very close to the surface. I've often said that fear and courage are cousins and very closely related." "Extremism in the pursuit of opportunity is not a vice. If you've seen me step over the edge, it's only to get you to take a few steps toward the line." "The eleventh commandment is Thou shalt not take oneself seriously." "The best thing to have in the world is a monopoly, and if you can't have a monopoly, you want an oligopoly. I'm more than willing to leave all the rest of the highly competitive world to everybody else." "To create an enormously successful corporation that provides both opportunity and sustenance for employers today and a future for them tomorrow, that's the challenge. That's what everybody should be talking about. Not my f*cking language because it doesn't matter." "I think it was Confucius who said that 'Money talks and bullshit walks."

The #1 private developer in the U.S., Jorge Pérez reveals his billionaire secrets for power investors.BR Known as the King of Condominiums and the Steven Spielberg of Real Estate, top developer Jorge Pérez reveals his principles for achieving success in even the toughest real estate market through a clear, step-by-step process. Pérez specifies effective business tactics that will lead to evergreen profits, including: ? Key points to smart investing ? Cardinal rules for picking and building property ? Commandments on negotiating the best deal ? Valuable tips on securing equity ? Steps for successfully selling property Finally, Pérez explains how to manage and grow investments over the long term. Emphasizing the importance of staying flexible in an ever-changing market, Pérez offers personal anecdotes, key business philosophies, and top insider methods to inspire and motivate any investor or entrepreneur to achieve the ultimate success in real estate.

Benefit from the outstanding investment opportunities that currently exist in the REIT industry The growth of REITs as an asset class has created an excellent opportunity for small investors to participate in the ownership of institutional-quality real estate. Are you ready to help your clients make the most of this opportunity? J.K. Lasser Pro Real Estate Investment Trusts thoroughly explains the nature of REITs and explores how this investment vehicle can be integrated and implemented into almost any client’s portfolio. This invaluable resource discusses the benefits and performance characteristics of REITs and includes a chapter on each of the following forms of REITs available, including: Residential REITs Manufactured home community REITs Office REITs Industrial property REITs Retail REITs Hotel property REITs Health care REITs Self-storage REITs Specialized, diversified, and mortgage REITs Filled with practical guidance, vital information, and in-depth interviews with some of the most respected individuals in the REIT industry, J.K. Lasser Pro Real Estate Investment Trusts is a valuable road map to an investment vehicle that can help you stabilize and grow any investor’s portfolio. Please visit our Web site at www.jklasser.com

“This well-organized book shows what a typical life in real estate is like so that newcomers can decide whether the field is right for them. It also offers advice on how to grow real estate investments for people who are already in the industry. Poorvu includes a variety of real world stories about people and their career experiences to make for an interesting read with a practical edge.” –Publishers Weekly “This new book by Bill Poorvu trumps any real estate book you’ve ever read.” –James Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer There are plenty of “get rich quick in real estate” books. This is not one of them. Your guide, William Poorvu, is a lifelong real estate investor and consultant, and former head of the real estate program at Harvard Business School. Drawing on his personal experience–and hundreds of interviews with many of the most successful real estate investors and entrepreneurs–Poorvu illuminates every stage of your “life” in real estate: creating wealth, growing it, and managing it successfully. He reveals the milestones, pitfalls, and rewards associated with real estate investing, offering powerful insight into the challenges and opportunities you’ll face as you start out...scale up...ride the industry’s cyclical waves and then leverage, share, or pass along the wealth you’ve created. This book contains dozens of real life personal stories, hands-on checklists, and questions to guide your decisions...and it delivers unparalleled insight into how the real estate industry really works: • Be strategic: choose your best route into the business Define your successful real estate career, and learn how to make it a reality •Build your foundation: your first job, your first deal Spot a great opportunity to add value, and jump on it • Scale up: build and sustain your success Hire a great team, manage them successfully, and find the capital you need to grow • Survive the downturns: be flexible and nimble Recognize new realities, adapt to them, and uncover the opportunities they create • Take stock: make the most of your success Balance your business, wealth, and family

In this must read book, Joe Sesso shares the top tips and secrets of real estate giants from the webinar series Secrets of Top Selling Agents. Barbara Corcoran, Dave Liniger, Gary Keller, Chris Smith, and others tell you exactly what you need to do to be a top selling agent! Each chapter includes advice and tips from a different real estate superstar. In the Secrets of Top Selling Agents you will learn how: Barbara Corcoran turned her real estate business into an international brand. A devastating illness forced Dave Liniger to rethink his life and change his perspective on the business. Gary Keller and Jay Papasan focus on the one thing to achieve success. Katie Lance leverages social media to bring the real estate industry into the twenty-first century. Chris Smith discovered how you can increase your GCI by 50 percent. Jay Baer created the concept of "youtility." Jimmy Mackin manages multitasking and reaching the elusive "Inbox Zero." Other real estate professionals have adapted to today's challenges. These titans of the industry will change the way you approach your real estate business.

Take your real estate career to the highest level! "Whether you are just getting started or a veteran in the business, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent is the step-by-step handbook for seeking excellence in your profession and in your life." --Mark Victor Hansen, cocreator, #1 New York Times bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul "This book presents a new paradigm for real estate and should be required reading for real estate professionals everywhere." --Robert T. Kiyosaki, New York Times bestselling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad The Millionaire Real Estate Agent explains: Three concepts that drive production Economic, organizational, and lead generation models that are the foundations of any high-achiever's business How to "Earn a Million," "Net a Million," and "Receive a Million" in annual income