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

by William Poorvu

“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 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 • Be choose your best route into the business Define your successful real estate career, and learn how to make it a reality • Build your your first job, your first deal Spot a great opportunity to add value, and jump on it • Scale build and sustain your success Hire a great team, manage them successfully, and find the capital you need to grow • Survive the be flexible and nimble Recognize new realities, adapt to them, and uncover the opportunities they create • Take make the most of your success Balance your business, wealth, and family

Genres: Business

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2007

Reviews

[Jesse Mac Dougall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Video review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h78_B...

[Max Pantalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better geared towards mid career real estate professionals but found very valuable. Provides a variety of case studies ranging from small mom and pop operations to the titans of our business such as Trammell Crow, Gerry Hines, and Walter Shorenstein.

[Stefan Todorovic · Rating 1 out of 5]

I expected more. Too bad!

[Mike Hohrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, ties in a lot of personal stories along with fundamental business knowledge. I love the author, partly because he uses a lot of local examples. He teaches at Harvard and does a lot of deals in New England. Highly recommend for great business, real estate, and life knowledge.

Update: November 5th, 2018.

Still a fantastic book, keeping my 5 star rating. He follows several entrepreneurs through the four stages of their real estate careers. From starting out to scaling up to hedging risk and then to ensuring their legacy. I really enjoyed the stories and lessons from his long career of success in real estate. He's one of the founding members of one of Bostons largest hedge funds, the Baupost group. A fact I learned while in the middle of the book and which really impressed me. He's had an incredible impact in the real estate community and on a generation of real estate entrepreneurs through his teaching at Harvard and through his books. Alas, he's getting up there in age so we can't expect much more content from him, but his books are a legacy that have inspired me and countless others to seek a life of success through real estate!

[Walter Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on real estate and life.

[Julian Bu · Rating 3 out of 5]

some sound business principles for sure.

[Michael Johnson]

At 285 WPM the estimated time to read is 4 hours and 3 minutes