Product Description

Thoroughly updated, the second edition of Professional Real Estate Development explains the nuts and bolts of the real estate development industry. You will learn how to develop and manage five types of real estate products: land, residential, office, industrial, and retail uses. Focusing on small-scale projects, the authors show you practical methods for developing each major type of real estate, including feasibility analysis, design and construction, financing, marketing, and management. Photos, site plans, diagrams, and case studies provide examples of actual projects and how the process works. Information is specific and detailed, with costs, rents, and financing information included by product type.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #243938 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 414 pages

About the Author
Richard B. Peiser was appointed the first Michael D. Spear Professor of real estate development in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. He joined Harvard in 1998 after being on the faculty at the University of Southern California since 1986, where he served as director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate Development and academic director of the Master of Real Estate Development Program, a program he founded in 1986. Before that appointment, he was assistant professor of real estate and regional science in the MBA program of the Cox Business School at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Peiser has blended his academic career with professional real estate experience. A planner and entrepreneur developer as well as an expert in real estate finance, he has also demonstrated an interest in spatial and design issues and in the economics of land development.

Through various partnerships in Texas and California, he has engaged in homebuilding and apartment development as well as large-scale land development and management. His recent development and investment activities have focused on low- and moderate-income apartment development and industrial product acquisition.

His primary research has focused on developing an understanding of the response of real estate developers to the marketplace and to the institutional environment in which they operate, particularly in the areas of urban redevelopment, affordable housing, and suburban sprawl.

He has published numerous articles in academic and professional journals on subjects that include new town development, urban growth, development regulation, infrastructure financing, and real estate finance.

He is editor of Reducing Crime through Real Estate Development and Management (ULI, 1998) and author of Strategies and Structure of Real Estate Development Firms: Lessons from Management Research (ULI, 1991), Special Districts: A Useful Technique for Financing Infrastructure (ULI, 1987), and Financing Infrastructure to Support Community Growth (ULI, 1984).

Peiser received his BA from Yale University, his MBA from Harvard University, and his Ph.D. in land economy from Cambridge University. He is a trustee and fellow of the Urban Land Institute, coeditor of the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, and a faculty associate of Eliot House. He serves on the boards of American Realty Advisors and the Berkshire Income Realty, Inc.

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Overview Of The Development Process
I am a 66 year old developer with several successful projects under my belt. This is a fine book for beginning, intermediate, and yes, advanced developers. The best I've ever read, and I've got bookshelves full of them. Also, for a modest fee, you can download from the publisher the software used for the financial illustrations in the book. I had to learn this material the hard way, because when I started out, there weren't any good books on development. If you want to be a developer, start here. If you're an experienced developer, you'll learn a lot from this book. I congratulate the authors for putting in such an immense amount of work.

ULI Guide
For its high price, you may want to seriously think about your needs. If your intention is to buy a book for a broad overview of the development process with a somewhat academic approach, then this may be right for you. If you are builder or someone with prior real estate brokerage/service experience, you may find this too ivory tower and not practical. This book was a bit theoretical for my taste.

Although this book has been reprinted recently, all the data dates back to the late-1990's. Social and economic data are perhaps presented for illustrative purposes only, however, it is a bit disheartening.

There are some interesting project data, financial models and checklists, but frankly, the reader could figure those out on his/her own with some common sense and marginal experience in the industry.

Bottom line -- my suggestion is to review the book at the public library before you buy.

Academic. A text book that needs a refresher for today's issues.
Rick is first and foremost a professor, so the book follows an academic format best suited for the young student of development seeking a broad introduction to the process. Of course, the real world is more complex than any text book could ever capture. That said, the book has become a bit dated for the contemporary developer, whose world is increasingly governed by investors, special interest groups and oft ill-informed government officials! The book delivers fundamental building blocks in a logical, sequential process. The examples cited are, as another reviewer pointed out, on average probably 14 year old analogies. Perhaps the largest ommission is an accurate portrayal of what a developer really does - assembles a diverse team of people together to share in a singular vision, then rule over this creative, temperamental team with an iron fist in velvet gloves. A chapter called 'Cat Herding' would best summarize that world.

My recommendation is, buy the book, join the Urban Land Institute, attend your meetings, be a good listener, and dont think reading one book will set you off on your path to that infamous (maybe fictitious unless you happen to be the primary investor in an opportunity fund!)in that $100,000,000 net profit deal!