10 Common Traits Of Real Estate
Billionaires
By Karen Hanover
The author has permitted the reprinting and redistribution of this
article.
“1. Go commercial. Billionaires who make their fortunes in
real estate don’t do it in residential. They are moguls with
an empire of owned and operated office buildings, shopping centers,
apartment complexes, and luxury hotels. That strategy works
particularly well for “America’s richest
landlord,” 73-year-old Newport Beach Resident Donald Bren,
the wealthiest man in American real estate. This self-made millionaire,
with a net worth of $4.3 billion, made much of his money as chairman of
The Irvine Company, a privately held real estate investment company
known for creating balanced, sustainable, quality communities like the
93,000-acre Irvine Ranch in Orange County. Finished plots sell for more
than $1 million an acre. The ranch also has 400 office buildings, 35
shopping centers, 80 apartment complexes and 2 luxury hotels. Bren is
6th wealthiest real estate billionaire and the 122nd richest man in the
world. He is also one of real estate’s great philanthropists.
2. Do more than invest. Making big money in real estate goes beyond
buying property and waiting for it to appreciate in value.
It’s all about improvements. John Sobrato of Sobrato
Development Companies calls Atherton, home, but he made his fortune in
Silicon Valley – for more than 40 years, Sobrato’s
SDC has developed real estate in Silicon Valley - specializing in
facilities for high tech and R&D companies. Another self-made
man, he began in 1953 with one of the first
“tilt-up” buildings in Santa Clara County. Sobrato,
who owns and manages the buildings it constructs and maintains single
tenant occupancy, boasts a portfolio of $1.5 billion. His assets
include land throughout Silicon Valley, San Jose, Fremont, Newark and
Santa Clara and he has developed in excess of 7,000 rental units.
3. Be able to see the property for what it could be. Just because you
buy a shopping complex doesn’t mean that’s the
highest and best use of the property. Know the local zoning codes and
be open to the possibilities…Los Angelino Ed Roski did just
that. Roski is the founder of Majestic Realty, the largest commercial
builder in Los Angeles, boasting an office, retail and industrial
portfolio totaling more than 55 million square feet. The USC grad with
a net worth of $1.1 billion saw the highest and best use of the
formerly blighted area near the convention center and built the Staples
Center with Philip Anschutz. Roski is also a minority owner of the
Lakers and the Kings. Headquartered in City of Industry, Majestic
Realty also has offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Las Vegas
– where they have a 400-acre business park and 3 million
square feet of casinos.
4. Be tenacious and relentless. Billionaires don’t let
obstacles or pitfalls keep them from achieving their goals. Newport
Beach billionaire George Argyros is the grandson of Greek immigrants.
Argyros began by running a Palm Springs grocery. He graduated to buying
and selling corner lots at busy intersections for gas stations. Turned
to apartments in 1968. Today, as part of Arnel & Affiliates,
Argyros manages apartments and commercial properties in southern
California. He has a net worth of $1.2 billion.
5. Have a thick skin. People can be resentful and jealous of successful
people. Don’t let criticism of your work deter you from your
goals. Consider Red Emmerson – the second wealthiest real
estate titan in California. Emmerson is the largest private forestland
holder in North America - assets include 1.52 million acres in Northern
California, timberland stretching more than 350 miles from Mount Shasta
to Yosemite National Park. For the last 20 years, while other logging
companies retrenched or relocated, Emmerson, and his company - Sierra
Pacific Industries - quietly grew into the second-largest private
landowner in the United States. Needless to say, Sierra Pacific is a
darling of environmental groups.
6. Have superior information. If you do more research than your
competitors, you’ll have an advantage in any transaction.
Self-made billionaire Carl Berg was a loan processor before investing
in Silicon Valley commercial real estate with John Sobrato in the
1960s. He struck out on own, forming Mission West Properties, a real
estate investment trust (REIT) in Silicon Valley. Berg owns a
controlling stake in the REIT, which focuses on single-tenant research
and development and office properties in Silicon Valley. Mission West
now owns and manages more than 100 properties, major tenants include
Microsoft and Apple Computer. Currently, the Atherton-based businessman
boasts a portfolio of $1.2 billion.
7. Don’t accept the cards you’re dealt. Forbes
notes that while one-third of the world’s 46 billionaires who
make their money in real estate inherited and then grew their fortunes,
two-thirds are self-made. Stockton-based A.G. Spanos Companies are
known for building, managing, and selling multi-family housing units;
constructing master-planned communities, and developing land. Although
California based, they have expanded to build more than 100,000
apartments in 18 states since 1960. A.G. Spanos Companies have also
developed top-class office space in San Joaquin County. Alex Spanos,
owner of the NFL’s San Diego Chargers, operates the company
with his sons Dean (president and CEO) and Michael Spanos (EVP).
Spanos, whose net worth is $1.1 billion has pledged $200 million to San
Diego for a new stadium for their football team.
8. Live in California. Of the 21 U.S. billionaires who made their
fortune in real estate, more than one-third live in Atherton, Los
Angeles, Newport Beach, Palo Alto, or Stockton.
9. Get, and stay, married. Of the 43 real estate billionaires whose
marital status is known, according to Forbes, 37 are married, while
only three are divorced and three are widowed.
10. Go back to school. Of the 26 real estate billionaires whose
educational attainments are known, 20 have a college degree or higher.
Five made it on high school diplomas, and one is a high-school dropout.
John Arrillaga is a big donor to alma mater Stanford University.
Arrillaga and Richard Peery are two of 2 of Silicon Valley’s
biggest commercial landlords. In the 1960s, they converted farmland
into pricey office space. Peery and Arrillaga are lifelong business
partners who avoid debt, and the media. Each has net worth of $1
billion.”
Karen Hanover is a Certified Commercial Real Estate Advisor and
commercial real estate broker. She founded the Commercial Investment
Education Institute for both beginning and seasoned investors. Take a
FREE Online Course at httpwww.cieinst.com
If
you would like to take advantage of the market and learn how to invest
in real estate and you are local to the Dallas Fort Worth area, I know
a really great teacher and mentor here in Arlington Texas. Please take
a look at his web site: DennisJHenson.com,
Dennis has a great Mentoring and training program, I know because I am
one of his former students. I learned a lot from his one on one
teaching technique. - Michael Harman 817-457-7572
mchfun.business@gmail.com
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