One of the keys to thinking big is total focus. I think of it almost as a controlled neurosis, which is a quality I’ve noticed in many highly successful entrepreneurs.
Life is actually a series of tests. It’s a social test, a happiness test, a business success test. You’d like to get A’s in all of them.
I think I understand life. I think I understand how to live. I’m enjoying my life. I don’t really live in an as extravagant way as people think.
One of the things that I heard for years and years, never drive Russia and China together. And Obama has done that.
You have Obama that wants to play golf instead of deal with people.
If you go to a diner in the middle of America, people are having these conversations, but our politicians are too scared to bring it up because they’re worried about offending the 0.002 percent of the country that may somehow be subject to what the conversation may be. And it’s ridiculous.
When you have the opportunity to do something, you have to jump on it.
I think a lot of people see, obviously, the business side of my father. But, I mean, he’s just a great guy. We enjoyed the holidays so much. To be able to spend time with him when he’s not necessarily working or not doing the political thing, I mean, he’s much more of a blue collar American.
This country has had 200 years of hegemony over the rest of the world, and it feels like our politicians, they just want to give that back.
My father knows more about sports than any human being out there. He relaxes. The ribbing that we give each at the Christmas holidays is incredible. He’s much more of an ordinary American and a proper American than a lot people would probably ever believe.
I say that in jest a little bit, but Donald Trump is a blue collar guy with a balance sheet. That’s the way he likes to have fun.
My father is a straight- talking guy. He’s always been. He has a history of that in business as a personality for the last 35 years.
What Donald Trump is going to bring to the table. He’s going to bring straight, honest conversation and bring up topics that, while they may be sensitive, they have to be said.
You’ve already lost the battle if you’re afraid to fight.
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.
That experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you’re generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make.
The rental income served as a dividend, so to speak, but even at an early age, I focused more on the home appreciation. I came to understand the tax advantages of home ownership, implications of depreciation, and the opportunity to use the homes as leverage in borrowing money.
The situation at 100 Central Park South is a perfect illustration. Soon after I purchased the building, I did some research into the financial status of the tenants. What I discovered was fascinating but not surprising. There are three distinct groups. The first, who live in the largest apartments, overlooking the park, on the higher floors, are generally successful, wealthy, and in some cases quite prominent.
How knowledgeable is the agent about the market? Ask where he sees interest rates going in the next six to twelve months. What does the supply of homes look like, and what will the future supply be? An educated agent will give his views and quote his sources about the future of the market.
Think location, location, location. It is always nice to have the best location, but in today’s world, the key is specialization, specialization, specialization.
Irving was the kind of guy who worked perhaps an hour a day and accomplished more in that hour than most managers did in twelve hours. I learned something from that: it’s not how many hours you put in, it’s what you get done while you’re working.