Real Estate Titans

Appendix A: A Conversation with Wharton’s Dr. Peter Linneman

This book would not be complete without including the most renowned real estate professor in the world, Peter Linneman, who pioneered the academic study of real estate and was named by the National Association of Realtors as one of the 25 most influential people in the business. I have so much respect for him not only because he did the research on real estate for decades, but also because he executed as a professional and carried out large investments and dispositions. In the real estate industry there are so many people that you encounter who express their opinions as if they were truths, and I am not a fan of this practice. I believe that opinions should be based on facts. Peter Linneman makes shrewd conclusions based on research, on evidence, and real-world facts. So, of course, do the Titans interviewed in this book.

In His Own Words

I wasn’t born into real estate, and it certainly wasn’t something that I grew up expecting to become a part of my life. I stumbled into it through the world of finance. Earlier in my career, I was working leveraged buyouts (LBOs) at Wharton, which is where you buy out a company by making use of debt.

When you’re in the LBO world, the expectation is that the return generated on the acquisition will more than outweigh the interests that you have to pay on the debt, making it a good ...