Trammell Crow, Master Builder: The Story of America's Largest Real Estate Empire

By Robert Sobel

Book Overview

Brings alive the story of Trammell Crow--the visionary real estate developer whose brilliant career served to shape the future of the field. Follows Crow from his origins as a small-time real estate dealer to his transformation into a corporate symbol. Discusses the bold methods that Crow used to build the most influential real estate company in America. Includes an examination of how Crow's risky strategy of making all principals partners in his firm and offering equity interest to deal managers paid off with spectacular profits. A lively account of Crow's mission to break all the rules and become the greatest builder of our age.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471528633
• ISBN13: 9780471528630
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.0" x 15.3" x 22.8"

Customer Reviews

I walked away with key concepts that will stay with me!

Trammell Crow Trammell Crow; Master Builder, The Story of Americas Largest Real Estate Empire by Robert Sobel The book brings you through Trammell's life from his early years doing odd jobs such as, plucking chickens for 15 cents an hour in the early 1930's to his eventual start in real estate at the age of 33. By 1975 Crow was involved in 604 partnerships and 132 corporations. The most memorable concept that Crow embraced was making almost every key employee a partner in his deals. I believe this kept him going though the tough times because partners as opposed to employees will go the extra mile in a squeeze. And Crow went through some tough times! He was loaded with dirt, (land) during a downturn and as you can imagine, dirt does not generate cash flow. So, as so many real estate giants do, he ran into cash flow problems during a downturn. The book walks you through his remarkable restructuring and how everyone involved with him pulled together and unified to get through the cash crunch. It's a tremendously insightful concept that our company, Delking has embraced, by making key employees partners in deals. We hope this will increase longevity and keep them focused and exhilarated as it did for Trammell Crow. I enjoyed the ability to peer into the life of a truly charged real estate operator and was able to walk away with some key concepts that will stay with me for life. By Kevin Kingston, author of, "A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate" http://www.bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston