Has anyone made it big in real estate?
I am sorry if I am being shallow here but I could really use some personal success stories from real estate professionals. Obviously there are stories of likes of Sam Zell etc. but would appreciate stories that are more close to home and relatable.
As a junior working in a smallish REPE, I have seen nothing but fuck-ups and mediocre performance for most of my working life. I have seriously begun to question whether this is a field that is worth pursuing.
Yes I have.
And if you aren't interested in the field long term, then it isn't a place for you to be. I don't mean that pejoratively - you may be great at your job. But if you don't actually enjoy it, you are unlikely to be extremely successful at it in the long term
Explain how you have?
Most real estate posts on WSO 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Here's to 2025
He's almost purchased a 4 unit rent stabilized building in bushwick.
I work in a field that isn't (or at least wasn't) super sexy. Not a lot of young people seem to want to go into affordable housing development, because it doesn't pay huge W2 salaries to 24 year olds and there are no home run deals. No one wants to go and brag about the shelter they're building in the Bronx when they could show up to every idiotic MF conference and talk about the luxury condo development they own 5% of in Miami.
Rant aside, the barrier to entry for the industry is knowledge, not capital, so if you spend some time and get a good reputation with local electeds, housing agencies, etc then you don't really need much equity to go on your own and do a deal.
What do you consider “made it”? If making $600-800K per annum wirh some big bumps on years of big wins. Yes. I’ve seen W2 employees make it. I’ve also seen W2s make it to the top of the largest funds and make multiple millions per year and retire with a family office. So it exists. But like anything you need to be the best to make the biggest bucks.
Seen many debt and investment brokers make a killing! The advisory side of this business is the best if you can make it past the initial phase. You are a talking head with no risk. Small REPE shops need to get aggressive to make deals work. Large firms can stomach the pain for a hot minute given their fund raising strategy but seeing a lot of small shops doing some shady shit in my seat! Come be an advisor, you will sweat for a year or 3, and then start living large!
What type of firm do you work for? What does comp look like?
Thought this was rage bait. The list of people who have “made it” in real estate is endless, in so many different sectors/roles. 8% of all billionaires was through real estate for instance, and there is plenty of cross over into more traditional “finance” through MF PE, real asset funds, the continuous blurring between infra/real estate, etc, etc.
Roughly how old are you if you don't mind me asking? For context
How do you define "making it?" Some make 200k per year, while others can make 2M, or even 20M per year in real estate. "Making it" really is subjective as the person making 2M per year may be comparing to the person making 20M, therefore they haven't really made it.
I would think make it big is 600k a year comp by 32, 800k by 40. And that is just for start. I would say 1.5mm a year cash comp is the top end for W2s. You do really have to be smart AND good with people to make it to the top Top. I would say $10mm a year is min net worth. at 6% return, that is 600k a year or 50k a month, not a lot leftover after your 10k-15k a month in rent or mortgage, and that is on your primary residence. you need another 10k a month for your vacation house. You really need 20mm to be above it all now adays
5 Million is a nightmare, Greg. Can't retire. Not worth it to work.
Poorest rich person in America. The world's tallest dwarf.
Yes, tons of people have "made it" and I am surprised you asked this question. I know one guy who left a mid-sized REPE to a very small one with no track record, negotiated a nice % carry of the first deal, closed & at the tender young age of 29 earned $2.4m. He is still grinding it out and will make even more money in the future. Consistency, persistency, competency in combination will win in the longer run.
"Made it" is so incredibly subjective. I feel like I personally "made it" but many of the people on the HF forum would turn their nose up at my rookie numbers.
I became a paper millionaire around my 31st birthday working W2 real estate jobs since I was fresh out of college. By the standards of this forum, that's probably pretty unremarkable, but compared to median genpop, that is insane.
I had no windfalls from insane carry or career-defining commissions. By most standards, I have been a remarkably average real estate investment employee. Just showed up every day, worked hard, and saved diligently.
Long winded way of saying it depends on your definition of making it. I grew up in a fairly average household so my definition of making it may be different than yours. But I do think it's safe to say that all else equal, careers in real estate investment will allow one to live an above-average life.
I haven’t made it big, but real estate can provide for a great life even if you don’t make fabulous wealth.
I have my own shop buying properties with partners. I have a relatively nice house in a nice neighborhood, a wife, a kid, and a comfortable liquidity position. I don’t need to do a deal right now for fee income, so I’m not feeling much pressure.
I work out of my house when I’m not on-site, which allows me to be with my kid a bunch. I go on two walks a day with kid when the weather is nice. I work out at home most mornings and go to lunch with my wife 1x a week. I’m not typically sitting at a computer into the night, although I am constantly thinking about my business and work off my phone. With exceptions, I can usually take the day/morning/afternoon off if I want. I was able to relocate back home, so I see my parents and siblings every week and have regular dinners/hangs with my life long friends.
This morning our nanny called out sick, so I stayed home. I had a few check ins with property managers. Other than that I hung out with my kid, did some work around the house, and got groceries to cook for dinner. Pretty decent day.
I feel very lucky and am very grateful for this life.
This is big, congratulations and keep building
I work at a big REPE firm and the amount of grant cordone looking mf I have seen in RE industry makes me wanna get out of it so bad. This industry is filled w hardos and alcoholics.
Some of us prefer the term heavy drinker. But that might have more to do with my Russian genetics than the industry.
I think big financial success in real estate largely mirrors what happens to venture capitalists (without the huge huge winners since real estate investments have their limits to growth). In the city you live in, you’ll see examples of cash cows that keep giving (ie Serremonte Mall or Stonestown Mall in San Francisco; Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu). The base case worked fantastically and they double down, triple down on expansions, residential mixed use, etc. Reinvesting in winners - wealthy people think like this. People with very valuable, strategically located properties tend not to want to sell it first chance they get to earn a one time promote. Want to feel rich? Own a property that gives off promote-like cash flow every year forever.
There is risk with every deal, but when you find the gem - that is a career and financial definer.
To me, folks who make it big, had a cash cow in their portfolio and rode it. Kind of also means, you need to be able to know what is (or can be) institutional grade and be able to participate somehow. This is the biggest learning takeaway from working at a bigger CRE company/large REPE. I talked about angles you can take in the senior housing discussion to be a small fish playing for institutional grade potential deals and identifying what can be uniquely “strategically located” under the right use case and vision.
There are many, many people who have done extremely well in real estate.
This is going to sound like a cop out, but your definition of “making it big” changes a lot as you age. For me, it has gradually shifted from a desire for empire building with a much lower threshold of what real wealth looks like to a desire to silently do deals, without any employees relying on me, and a true understanding of how wealthy some people really are.
I have made it big
What do you want to know?
I want to know how big.
I don’t ever have to do another deal again and could retire now if I chose as hit all my financial goals.
Any other questions?
Yes, many people have made it big in real estate.
Among notable examples include:
Donald Bren: Chairman of the Irvine Company, he's one of the wealthiest real estate developers in the U.S.
Barbara Corcoran: Founder of The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City, and a "Shark Tank" investor.
Sam Zell: Known as the "Grave Dancer," he built his fortune through real estate investments and developments.
Gary Keller: Co-founder of Keller Williams Realty, one of the largest real estate franchises in the world.
Robert Kiyosaki: Author of "Rich Dad Poor Dad," advocates real estate investing as a path to wealth.
These individuals built their fortunes through innovative strategies, investments, and development projects in real estate.
Are you serious? I was thinking "it's telling that all the people on your list 'made it' in a very different time and context" and then I saw you put a self-help "guru" on here and realized you have no idea what you're talking about. Is this just a ChatGPT output? The only thing Robert Kiyosaki has done is write a crappy book, full of bad advice, meant to trick desperate people into shelling out money they can't afford to hear about his fictionalized past.
I don’t think you’re asking the right question. What you want to know is whether the grind is worth it, and if you can actually make real money in real estate.
The answer to your question is yes. The nuance is that there is survivorship bias (all industries), and the reality is that in a hot economy all sectors make money and it comes down to luck and timing of taking risks.
The advice you’ll get is to stick it out in something, gain a specialized skill set, and take some risks using your expertise. Doesn’t matter if it’s real estate tech or what ever flair of the week.
If I had a second life, I would have started in real estate development 10 years ago. I run an operating business now and cash flow well. Have a decent amount of money but don't have the knowledge of how to develop properties. Property development - sky is the limit if you know what you are doing.
This is the sort of business where you really win if you are second generation wealthy, but can stomach working for peanuts for a developer for 5-10 years before you go out on your own. Its hard to build a nest egg through traditional w2 real estate jobs as they don't pay that well.
Development is unbelievably difficult. I have been in the business for a long time and have seen very few people get out of new construction with any promote. For people who built way back in the day and held on, some have done very well. However in recent memory, I have not seen many developments really win.
I jokingly call development (World War I). And then lease up, especially long/slow lease-ups and exit (World War II). Mix in the inevitable partnership risk, especially when hard times, uncertainty hit (or greedy times). It is an interesting way to make money (you’ll live multiple lives). Akin to playing roulette, especially if you’re betting the farm multiple times in a parlay (why? Because you dream of being a billionaire which has bankrupted more than a few folks).
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