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 youve ever read.

James Grant, editor of Grants 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 experienceand hundreds of interviews with many of the most successful real estate investors and entrepreneursPoorvu 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 youll face as you start out...scale up...ride the industrys cyclical waves and then leverage, share, or pass along the wealth youve 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

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 todays 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.

Acknowledgements viii

About the Author x

Introduction: The Many Paths to Success 1

PART I: Starting Out 7

Chapter 1: The Starting Line 9

Chapter 2: Finding a Focus 25

Chapter 3: Moguls in the Making 45

PART II: Scaling Up 59

Chapter 4: Five Good Questions 61

Chapter 5: Good Moves 77

Chapter 6: Grand Visions 101

PART III: Hedging Your Bets 123

Chapter 7: X Factors 125

Chapter 8: Broken-Field Running 141

Chapter 9: Moving the Fleet 165

PART IV: Taking Stock 193

Chapter 10: Your Business and You 195

Chapter 11: Your Business and Your Family 209

Chapter 12: Looking Forward, Looking Back 229

Index 249