Customer Reviews

Real Estate Development: Principles and Process

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book provides detailed and updated explanation of the whole development process of real estate projects. The first part of the book on financing is a bit confusing and may require additional resources to have a better understanding, but after that the book is quite enjoyable to read.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see the overall picture of being a Real-Estate Developer, and other 'players' involved in this field.

This book was recommended as a textbook for a 4th year course in real estate development and it reads like one. It is well organized and covers this broad subject with detailed, practical information in a systematic way.

Most of all I enjoyed the two real life case study storys (of the development of an office building and a high-rise apartment) that weave through the chapters. These were very candidly told by the developers themselves and give the real picture of the trials and tribulations of large project real estate development.

Numerous listings of information sources, web sites, and bibliographies at the end of each section makes this book a 'keeper' reference text.

This book so clearly articulates the pivotal role of the triad of market, marketability and feasibility studies in the field of real estate development. While the book does not attempt to be all encompassing, the text is dense with financial and other risk analysis distilled from the experience of the authors and contributors.

Although at times it felt like the shudder of taking an ice cold shower, I finished the book feeling refreshed and invigorated to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the risk-reward tradeoff in the development business.

Interestingly, I ended up reading this book like a fiction -- from cover-to-cover. And, it was a fun read. I particularly enjoyed some of the insightful stories of real estate development history, which is clearly a part of our American heritage.

However, I thought the real-life applications of the book's suggestions were victimized by this type of presentation. Certain "case studies" were presented along side a theoretical "how-to" processes to develop properties. These seemed entertaining and thoughtfully presented, rather than real life cookie cutter. In many cases, I recalled the property being described and became more informed of its origins and characters, but it did not unfortunately go the next step to discuss mistakes made, lessons learned, or successful components to highlighted -- which good case studies should endeavor. Moreover, it did not spend much time on architectural issues or financing arrangements that may have solved problems specific to the properties.

I would suggest to any potential Amazon customer to purchase this book only in conjunction with another more hardcore building book and/or architecture book