Product Description

The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling Property Like the Experts

How do the world's most successful developers--from Donald Trump to Sam Zell--make the most of every real estate transaction? The answers are found throughout Maverick Real Estate Investing. In this one-of-a-kind book, you'll learn the secrets to making a good deal, using other people's money, establishing cash flow targets, finding the best locations, getting top legal and tax counsel, overcoming negative responses, selling at the right time, and much more. It's must reading for every aspiring real estate titan, and will give you the tools necessary to make every deal a profitable one.

"Steve Bergsman's profiles of some of the most successful investors of our time give an illustrative and illuminating insight into how the best in the business have consistently managed their risk . . . and raised their returns. If you want to make it in the competitive world of real estate investing, read this book!"
--Dale Anne Reiss, Global and Americas Director of Real Estate, Hospitality, and Construction Services, Ernst & Young

"For the novice--and even the experienced--investor in real estate, Steve Bergsman's book contains lots of worthwhile ideas. Better still, it clearly explains how to implement them. Easy to read and insightful, it's one of the better how-to investment guides around."
--Richard Rescigno, Managing Editor, Barron's

"I have been reading Steve Bergsman's insightful real estate reporting and commentary for over a decade. He is one of the best real estate writers in America, as evidenced by his captivating analysis in Maverick Real Estate Investing, where he melds personalities and investing principles into a very good read."
--Jonathan L. Kempner, President and Chief Executive Officer Mortgage Bankers Association

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #361931 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review
"This well-researched book provides insight not available elsewhere...this superb book rates a solid 10." -- Robert J. Bruss Iman News, March 30, 2004

Review
"This well-researched book provides insight not available elsewhere...this superb book rates a solid 10."—Robert J. Bruss Iman News, March 30, 2004

From the Inside Flap
Without question, more wealth has been created through real estate than almost any other asset class. But while successful real estate investors make their endeavors look easy to the casual observer, looks can be deceiving. The truth is, for those with limited real estate investment experience, entering into this arena can be confusing as well as costly.

That’s why you need Maverick Real Estate Investing. This book will show you how to buy and sell property like the experts. By listening to some of the world’s most successful real estate Mavericks–those you’ll meet in these pages–you’ll uncover a plethora of valuable, time-tested advice and strategies to help you make the most of any real estate transaction.

Maverick Real Estate Investing introduces you to a group of innovators who have built substantial fortunes through astute deal making and visionary thinking. Some–like Donald Trump, Sam Zell, Eli Broad, Paul Reichmann, Samuel LeFrak, and Melvin Simon–are well known. Others–including Walter Shorenstein, Hamid Moghadam, Gerald Hines, John Kukral, and Stuart Hornery–keep a much lower profile, but have enjoyed similar success.

You’ll learn what sets these Mavericks apart from the rest of the pack, and see how to apply their proven principles to your own real estate deals. Among other things, this book reveals the secrets to:

• Making a good deal
• Using other people’s money
• Establishing cash flow targets
• Finding a nearly perfect location
• Getting good legal and tax counsel
• Overcoming negative responses
• Selling to your advantage

Each chapter in Maverick Real Estate Investing examines these and other rules for success, while giving you specific examples of how they have been effectively applied over the years by the Mavericks themselves. While the first part of every chapter looks at the theories behind each guideline, the second half provides a brief biography of the colorful career of the Maverick or Mavericks who best demonstrate the particular axiom in action. That way, you can see how these moguls began and were able to expand their respective companies into the powerhouses they are today.

It’s often said that real estate is about the only sure investment a person can make. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Real estate is–and always has been–a gamble. With help from the Mavericks, you’ll be able to stack the odds in your favor. Maverick Real Estate Investing will put you on the right path by giving you the knowledge you need to reduce the risk of buying and selling property, while improving your chances for making every deal a profitable one.

Customer Reviews

Not about RE investing strategies; also not biographies of great RE investors
I am disappointed about this book. As many reviewers have pointed out, this book, unlike its subtitle suggests, is not really about strategies of RE investing. Many said this book is more like biographies of great RE investors, but I find it difficult to agree as its analysis (or, even chronicle) on each "maverick" is always skin-deep.

What this book serves to me is that it tells me "there are such successful RE investors in the world as Zell, Shorenstein, Reichmann, and if you want to know more about them, you better look for a better biography in the library (and I am not going to tell you which one is good or where you can find one.)"

Yeah, a good introductory book of sorts, but certainly not as in-depth as I wanted it to be...
Author Steve Bergsman does a good job here of introducing the various players on the big property, and even bigger money scene in his first book, MAVERICK REAL ESTATE INVESTING.

For those who have not intimately studied the business affairs and strategies of Trump, Lowy, Shorenstein, Hines, Zell, Simon, et. al., this is as good a 'round-the-horn effort as it gets in getting to know each of them just a wee bit better.

My opinion? If you're anything like me, you'll blow through these chapters like a whirlwind, grabbing a nugget or two here or there. Its content will--at the end of the day--stick firmly in your mind, and you'll eventually find yourself thinking of it at the seemingly oddest times.

Better. If anything, reading MAVERICK REAL ESTATE INVESTING will doubtless instigate further curiosity, and for at least certain of the source materials Bergsman suggests in his rather meticulous follow-up notes.

If you read through from cover to cover, you'll realize there's a fair bit of continuity you can come to expect from Bergsman's style. He tends to reiterate the salient themes and terms for clarity and familiarity, though the paucity of background information--for instance, HOW did Paul Reichmann acquire that property in question?, or WHY did Fred Lowy decide to purchase that shopping mall in Connecticut?--will send you scampering back to the public library or to the megabookstore in search of a proper biography (should one exist) on that very subject.

I found myself in this particular state of thinking on at least a few times during my readthrough.

In Mr. Bergsman's defence, I suppose he was somewhat limited by what his subjects under the microscope permitted him to publish here in these short--but sweet--chapters. To be sure, I'm positive he had his hands tied when discussing the specifics of certain deals, therefore the details are a bit sketchy. As readers, we're more than a little understanding. We deftly between the lines...

I suppose in the case of books like these, you won't find everything to your liking.

Sure, novices to the real estate/property trade might enjoy the rather simplified breakdown of various terminologies and techniques--universtity course "101"-style--but will probably gain a massive amount of inspiration as a result. Others more well-versed in these areas will perhaps gravitate more towards those bite-sized quotables straight from the mouths of powerful magnates like Trump. Still others may cherry pick a few sage pointers from Bergsman's handy "summary points" ending each chapter, what you'd find in most MBA-level textbooks. It's a good review of what you've just learned. It's even a nice "skimming device" for those with less time to devote to full-on coverage. Derive insights from a particular chapter or two, then discard the rest. Who's to say?

Read it and see how it strikes you. I guarantee you won't gain all the inspirations the book's juicy title seems to suggest, but you *will* use it as a departure point.

Perhaps nothing more convincing than raw experience actually matters in the final analysis. You've got to spend the time making mistakes, going through the motions, and figuring out the optimal approaches for getting things done in your area of expertise.

Like any other industry segment, spend at least ten years practicing it until you REALLY know the ins and outs of how it functions. The book teaches more than anything that there's no better teacher than the school of hard knocks.

He who knows how to box--not fight--is the ultimate winner in the end.

All in all, a four star read. It's a title worth having on your bookshelf. Once you become successful, you'll look back fondly upon it for what it gave you, a long time ago.

--ADM in Prague

Pretty good blueprint on RE investing
This book doesn't get heavy in the real details of exactly how these deals are done. It's a little broad, but I will say that it helps any investor see how multi million dollar office building deals are made accross the country. It will outline what these tycoons and most are billionaires do in different cycles of the markets..... bottom line they buy in distress cheaply, improve net operating incomes and position these properties to generate millions of dollars in profits....... It's good info for knowing how to handle down markets, how much of an equity position to sustain, and also what it takes to put deals together with syndications..... If you want to get big in commercial real estate its worth the money and time to read it..... if you want to flip or hold a small portfolio of single family homes or apartment complexes don't waste your time with this book read the many others that are published for the smaller investor. Blake-------- bldgassets247@yahoo.com