Donald
j. trump
1
Dealing: a week in the life
*
don’t do it for the money. I’ve got enough, much more than I’ll ever need. I do
it to do it.
* I
usually arrive at my office by nine… I leave my office by six-thirty…
* Letterman
asks me how much an apartment goes for in trump tower. I tell him that he might
be able to pick up a one bedroom for 1$ million.
2
Trump cards: the elements of the deal
Think
big
* My
father built low-income and middle-income buildings in Brooklyn and Queens , but even then, I gravitated to the best location.
When I was working in Queens, I always wanted Forest Hills .
And as I grew older, and perhaps wiser, I realized that Forest Hills was great,
but Forest Hills isn’t Fifth Avenue Manhattan
* …
plenty of other people could buy and sell little brown stones, or build
cookie-cutter red-brick buildings. What attracted me was the challenge of
building a spectacular development on almost one hundred acres by the river on
the West Side of Manhattan
Protect
the downside and the upside will take care of itself
* Its
been said that I believe in the power of positive thinking. In fact, I believe
in the power of negative thinking. I happen to be very conservative in
business. I always go into the deal anticipating the worst. If you plan for the
worst – if you can live with the worst- the good will always take care of
itself.
Maximize
your options
Know
your market
*…
and I don’t trust fancy marketing survey. I do my own surveys and draw my own
conclusions… if I’m thinking of buying a piece of property; I’ll ask the people
who live nearby about the area – what they think of the schools and the crime
and the shops.
Use
your leverage
Enhance you location
Get
the word out
Fight
back
… One
of the problems when you become successful is that jealousy and envy inevitably
follow. There are people – I categorize them as life’s losers – who get their
sense of accomplishment and achievement from trying to stop others. As far as
I’m concerned, if they had any real ability they wouldn’t be fighting me,
they’d be doing something constructive themselves.
Deliver
the goods
Contain
the costs
* To
this day, if I feel a contractor is overcharging me, I’ll pick up the phone,
even if its only for $5,000 or $10,000 and I’ll complain. People say to me,
“what are you bothering for, over a few bucks?” my answer is that the day I
cant pick up the telephone and make a twenty-five-cent call to save $10,000 is
the day I’m going to close up shop.
Have
fun
3
Growing up
*… we
lived in a large house, but we never thought of ourselves as rich kids. We were
brought up to know the value of a dollar and to appreciate the importance of
hard work.
* One
advantage my father had was that he knew what everything cost…
* The
other way my father got contractors to work for a good price was by selling
them on his reliability. He’d offer a low price for a job, but then he’d say,
“Look, with me you get paid, and you get on time, and with someone else, who
knows if you ever see your money?” He’d also point out that with him they’d get
in and out quickly and on to the next job.
My father was also an unbelievably demanding
taskmaster. Every morning at six, he’d be there at the site and he would just
pound and pound and pound. He was almost a one man show. If a guy wasn’t doing
his job the way my father thought it should be done- and I mean any job,
because he could do them all- he’d jump in and take over.
*… to
do this job you had to be physically imposing, because when it came to
collecting rent from people who didn’t want to pay, size mattered a lot more
than brains.
* the
real reason I wanted out of my father’s business – more important than the fact
that it was physically rough and financially tough – was that I had a loftier
dreams and visions. And there was no way to implement building housing in the
outer boroughs.
4
The Cincinnati
* I
made sure the whole complex was very clean and very well maintained. As I said
earlier, I’ve always had a personal thing about cleanliness, but I also believe
it’s a very goo investment.
5
The move to Manhattan
* …
when I graduated from college, I had a net worth of perhaps $200,000…
*…
But in fact, you need advertising the most when people aren’t buying.
* The
other thing I promoted was our relationship with politicians, such as, Abraham
Beame, who was elected mayor of New
York
6
Grand hotel: Reviving 42nd
street
7
Trump tower: the tiffany location
* I
now employ some very large security people who make absolutely sure that the
street in front of Trump
Tower
*… A
guy named Arthur Drexler, from the Museum
of Modern Art
*
floor area ratio
* …
bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity at all.
* $1
million for a two bedroom…
* …
We have earned a profit of approximately $50 million on Trump Tower
* …
We were, in fact, spending nearly $1 million a year (on
maintenance)
8
Gaming: The building on the boardwalk
9
Wynn-fall: The battle for Hilton
10
Low rent, high stakes: the showdown on central park south
11
Long shot: The spring and fall of the USFL
12
Ice capades: Rebuilding wollman rink
* If
there’s one thing I’ve learned from dealing with politicians over the years,
its that the only thing guaranteed to force them into action is the press – or,
more specifically, fear of the press.
13
Comeback: A west side story
*
When you build a bridge, under contract to the government, you calculate the
costs and sign a contract for a set amount. All you need to do to earn a profit
is bring the project in on budget. In developing real estate, it’s a whole
different ball game. You can budget building costs, but you can’t truly project
revenues, because you’re always at the mercy of the market. The variables
include how much you get per unit, hoe long it takes to sell out, and what your
carrying costs are along the way.
14
The week that was: How the deals came out
