HARP – On This. . .

Tuesday, September 10, 2019
One North Wacker Conference Center – Chicago (UBS Tower)
and Live Webcast

About this Program

A story I heard growing up:

When my grandfather was 10 years old he found a penny. With that penny he bought a pencil. He sharpened that pencil then sold it for two cents. He took that two cents and bought two more pencils, sharpened them and sold them for four cents. He reinvested his four cents in four more pencils, sharpened them and sold them for eight cents. Then, again, he bought eight more pencils, sharpened them and sold them for sixteen cents. This went on until my grandfather had amassed $10.24. That’s when my great Aunt Sophie died and left us her portfolio of shopping centers, office buildings and rental homes. Our family has been in the real estate business ever since.

The story isn’t true, but it taught four valuable lessons: 1) Sweat equity is a powerful tool; 2) If you reinvest your earnings, wealth can grow geometrically; 3) The BIG money is in real estate; and 4) It would be nice to have a rich Aunt Sophie.

Like most families, we didn’t have a rich Aunt Sophie, so my parents focused on lessons 1, 2 and 3.

I mention this story as a backdrop. My life growing up was always about real estate. In my post Keys to Closing Commercial Real Estate Transactions, I mentioned my father because he was a wiz when it came to commercial real estate. It was through him that I came to represent commercial real estate developers.

What I didn’t mention was that my mother was active in the family real estate business as well. While my father focused on commercial land development, my mother focused on residential real estate. I should have known better than to mention one but not the other. This post could be sub-titled Keys To Maintaining Harmony.

What does maintaining harmony have to do with commercial real estate development? Stick with me on this, then decide. (more…)