Sometimes we need to read or hear about how others made it, to understand what we need to do, to succeed like them. They had the vision to achieve their dreams of owning lucrative real estate and took action, with persistence and determination to achieve them.
Take for example Leonard Stern and Stephan Ross, who today are widely regarded as being some of America’s Wealthiest Real Estate investors.
Or consider the following New York’s Real Estate billionaires, who topped Forbes’s rankings in 2017.
1. Stephen Schwarzman (CEO,Blackstone Group)
Net worth is 11.7 billion dollars.
2. Stephen Ross (CEO,The Hudson Yard’s Developer)
Net worth 7.4 billion dollars.
3. Richard Lefrak
Net worth 6.5 billionaire dollars
4. Sam Zell (CEO,Equity International)
Net worth 5 billion.
5. Leonard Stern (CEO,Hartz Group)
Net worth 4.2 billion
6. Jerry Speyer (CEO, Tishman Speyer)
Net worth 3.7 billion
7. Jeff Sutton
Net worth 3.6 billion
8. US President, Donald Trump
Net Worth 3.5 billion
•And many more.”
Now, consider the magnificent skyscrapers in Manhattan city with their attractive lighting.
Several decades ago they did not exist there. What must the city have looked like back then, compared to what people see today?
It would have been nothing more than an ugly collection of forests, water bodies, mountains, wild animals etc. None of which would have attracted people in large numbers we see in that city today, to come down and settle there to live and work. With few exceptions, no one wants to live in such a place!
Photos Below: Manhattan and Brooklyn images, in the late 18 century, early 19 century, till date)
1. Wall Street, New York City, in 1870
2. Wall Street, New York City, in 1960
3. Wall Street, New York City, 2018
Civilization and cutting edge technology, have brought about the development and transformation we see today in cities like Manhattan.
Just like it has done to places like Lagos-Nigeria’s Ibeju Lekki and Abijo GRA, among many others.
Photos Below: One of Larry Real Estate Organizations fast developing estates in Lagos, Nigeria’s Ibeju-Lekki.
If Leonard Stern and Stephan Ross as well as others like them hadn’t invested in New York’s real estate market many years earlier, after which they then waited for their investments to mature via development, it is quite unlikely that any of them would have made it to the top of Forbe’s real estate rankings.
This is why I’ve always challenged listeners who tune in on radio, as well as readers who follow me online, to avoid making the mistake of looking at the finished form or readymade status of Manhattan City, for instance, as a basis for deciding whether or not to make a real Estate Investment.
Those successful real estate gurus mentioned earlier did not see beautiful buildings in Manhattan when they began investing!
The places they bought into were bare, and undeveloped at the time. But the investors did their thinking, research and analysis that revealed there was POTENTIAL for profit to be made.
And that was what influenced their decision to invest.
So, rather than wait to see everything well built up, by which time they may have to pay a premium price later to buy into the market, wise investors take timely action early on, to invest when the potentials of the target areas is still not too apparent to many people.
That’s when the financial requirement for investment often tends to be much more pocket friendly – making it possible for you to complete it, comfortably, and later retire with assurance of income to last you a lifetime.
That’s what those wealthy owners of properties in New York’s Manhattan (and similar others here in Lagos) did to succeed!
Related Articles
1. https://fundrise.com/education/blog-posts/how-americas-wealthiest-real-estate-families-built-their-fortunes
2. https://therealdeal.com/2017/03/21/heres-where-nycs-real-estate-players-ranked-on-forbes-billionaires-list/
3. https://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_Leonard-Stern_LQKX.html