Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth: The 4 Stages to a Lifetime of Success [Paperback]

William J. Poorvu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0132434539 | ISBN-13: 978-0132434539 | Edition: 1

“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

 

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Harvard Business School professor Poorvu writes a very good book for a very specific readership: people who want to invest or build careers in real estate. This well-organized text 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. The book is divided into four stages: starting out looks at how to begin a real estate career by getting your first job (with tips as specific as résumé suggestions and as broad as finding a focus); scaling up focuses on what to do after you're established (such as making the decision to grow or stay small); hedging your bets discusses potential crises in the field; and taking stock looks at later career steps. Throughout these chapters, further subheadings make the material easy to navigate. Poorvu includes a variety of real world stories about people and their career experiences to make for an interesting read with a practical edge. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

William J. Poorvu managed the real estate program and taught real estate courses at Harvard Business School for 35 years. He has personally trained many of today’s most successful leaders in the real estate industry. He is a successful real estate entrepreneur himself and also a professional investor, both on his own behalf and for various endowment boards on which he serves. He also authored The Real Estate Game: The Intelligent Guide to Decision-Making and Investment.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (February 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132434539
• ISBN-13: 978-0132434539
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good advice., February 28, 2008

By 

Ary Freilich (Fort Lee, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth: The 4 Stages to a Lifetime of Success (Paperback)

Bill Poorvu's newest book provides meaningfully helpful information and guidance to those who are considering becoming professional real estate investors. An accomplished investor himself who happens to teach the topic at the Harvard Business School, he does so with a multi-layered approach which is engaging, clear and highly informative. This book has nothing in common with the multitudes of `get rich quick' books--typically largely worthless--or the hyper-technical texts that are useful only to backroom laborers. Rather, Poorvu provides advice derived from a lifetime in the real estate field designed to help the fledging understand how to enter the real estate investment world, what life is like when you do, what problems real estate businesses commonly encounter and what methodologies have succeeded for sober, successful investors who are in it for the long run. In an era of speculation and dice rolling that often results in unsatisfactory results, it is both refreshing and highly valuable advice indeed.

Ary Freilich
Professor (adjunct) of Real Estate Finance
Stern Graduate School of Business
New York University

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read if you are serious about real estate, February 28, 2008

By 

Westport Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth: The 4 Stages to a Lifetime of Success (Paperback)

If you're looking for get-rich-quick-in-real-estate-schemes-for-dummies, don't look here. A recognized authority, with extensive experience in the real world as well as in academia, Poorvu does not bore us with the "models" typical of Harvard professors, nor the empty get-rich-quick schemes of most real estate authors. Instead, he presents real life stories of people who have made successful careers in real estate, following them from their first jobs and first investments, through decisions that enable them to build on their successes, survive setbacks, and balance career and family. This book is indispensable for anyone considering a career or even an avocation in real estate.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book by this author, August 17, 2009

By 

Mariusz Skonieczny "Author" (Schaumburg, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth: The 4 Stages to a Lifetime of Success (Paperback)

I picked up this book because I also read Poorvu's other book The Real Estate Game. This book is another great one by this author. He teaches readers how to enter the real estate industry, do the first deal, and gain experience and success in real estate. This book is unlike others that try to persuade you that real estate is the fastest way to get rich. This one is different because the author truly describes the realities of the real estate industry.

Real estate may be considered a single industry, but for most participants it is a local business. It is also a cyclical business, but the author says that being a contrarian and going against the crowd can have great advantages over the long term. Also there is no one recipe for success. Players can specialize in different niches.

I think readers will find the section on how to enter the industry particularly helpful. The author says that the real estate industry has almost unlimited points of entry because the craft can be practiced in any community, and it comes in all sizes, shapes, and price points. He also points out that it is important to get a job under the right person because it is crucial to have the right mentor who will spend time with you, share experience, challenge you, and introduce you to others. I totally agree with this. I think that people who are serious about real estate will find this book extremely valuable.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market