Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received

Physical Copy:

Audiobook:

By: Donald J. Trump

Rating: C

The subtitle to this book was “100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies”. Think if you emailed the top 10 people you respect in your industry and asked for their single best piece of advice. That is what Trump did…but 100 people and threw them together and called it a book.

My favorite tid bits were:

Adina Azarian: Don’t be afraid to invest time.

The more people you put yourself in front of, the more phone calls you make, or the more doors you knock on, the more money you will make.

Douglas Baumwall: Target growth areas, and try not to sell what you own.

Target an area outside a city in the direction of growth. Then shop for raw land on a primary artery where you may purchase by the acre instead of by frontage.

Harvey Green: Believe in the market.

Regardless of cycles and temporary gyrations, real estate values have always increased over time.

1. Know who you are as an investor.
2. Assemble the right team.
3. Approach acquisitions the way the professionals do.
4. Recognize that barriers to entry are more important than location alone.
5. Think long-term, but act on short-term opportunities.

Dorothy Herman: Opportunities always exist.

There is never a wrong time to buy real estate. When times are good, people complain about the deals they have missed. When times are bad, they claim they can’t buy at the top thinking that prices will fall and, therefore, it’s not a good investment.

Erez Itzhaki: Never show emotion; be patient; work hard; and create volume.

One of the first rules of real estate is to never show emotion. Obviously there’s no future in expressing disappointment or anger, but I believe there is just as much danger in showing excitement.

At the end of the day the real estate business is sustained by the network you create and the reputation you earn.

Do not speak negatively about competitors.

Ozzie Jurock: Work to get a good deal.

There is no such thing as a good market or a bad market, only whether or not you have a good or a bad deal.

Bruce Mosler: Go where you’re needed.

Focus on one area. Become an expert in your industry. You have to focus on one area of the business.

Terri Murphy: Buy - and wait.

• Step 1: Start with a plan.
• Step 2: Build a team of experts. Real estate agents, developers, appraisers, loan originators, bankers, accountants, and attorneys specializing in real estate.
• Step 3: Work your plan.

Rob Zache: Five rules for success of your business.

My five rules of running a successful business are to get the following right: 

1. The market. Make sure you are doing business in the right market, meaning the right city, and also the right submarket or neighborhood within that city. Make sure your concept fits the market; analyze demographics, flyspeck competition, and get a good feel for demand.
2. The site. Once you have determined the market, find the best possible site in that market to fit your concept. And (within reason) pay whatever you have to in order to get the best piece of real estate for your business.
3. The facility. Build or buy the facility to make the business shine. Buildings are constructed for the operations of the business, not vice versa.
4. The product. Know what your customer wants, what your product is, and make it part of your mission statement to provide the best product in the market that will satisfy your customer every time.
5. The management. Continual improvement of management is necessary to survive.