There are many examples of millionaires (and billionaires) who have made their wealth from real estate – there are probably people you personally know, friends, neighbors, acquaintances that are real estate millionaires without your awareness.
Many well-known business owners and celebrities – famous for their more visible lines of work – actually have made more significant portions of their wealth as a result of real estate investments. Many of these may come as a surprise. For example:
Ray Kroc: The founder of McDonalds told students that his primary business was not hamburgers, it was controlling the real estate where his restaurants were built. McDonald’s restaurants are built upon some of the most valuable busy parcels of land in the world.
“…You don’t build an empire off of a 1.4% cut of a $.15 hamburger. You build it by owning the land upon which that burger is cooked… buying up plots of land, then turning around and leasing said plots to franchisees.“
From “The Founder”
Alex Rodriguez: While most well-known for his career in baseball, A-Rod is building his greatest wealth and success with real estate and other private equity investments.
While he may never reach the baseball Hall of Fame, he’s building an empire based on a broad foundation of real estate.
“… I started investing very small in real estate, simply as a hedge… as my earning power would close, my real estate would not only appreciate, but it would create more cashflow. Then, I would take that cashflow and buy more real estate… where it generated more cashflow.” – Alex Rodriguez
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Arnold was first known for his success in bodybuilding competition, which he then turned into an acting career popular for his action, adventure and even comedy roles.
He then moved into politics as the Governor of California – but none of these were Arnold’s path to his first millions. His early financial success was accomplished with real estate.
“…I would save everything…I was looking around for an apartment building…I felt very strongly, I had to have income property first… I bought a six-unit apartment building…eventually I had 100+ apartments…I had a great business…before I ever got into the film business, I was a millionaire from the real estate.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger