Real Estate Law: Fundamentals for The Development Process

I read the book cover to cover. Purchaser Beware.- An actual quote by the author from the Acknowledgements:"After researching and writing a textbook on real estate law, the last thing the author of such tome would want to do is read the entire book to prepare it for printing, regardless of how scintillating and engaging the author believes his writing to be." - Then it goes on to say how his wife edited the entire book... So the author basically chose not to edit his own work and brags about it. Well, sadly, that lack of quality shows in a big way. This book is not worthy of being called a textbook meant for a educational or professional environment, nor is it worthy of the steep price. The author should pay the reader since you must internally edit the writing while reading to render the word coherent.- This 500 page abomination of writing, that somehow believes it is a textbook, should be a 200 page field manual, if that. This book is filled with redundancy and is a preliminary draft at best.- The book has gross errors in editing and grammar, is littered with misspelled words and punctuation, and has more run-ons than a marathon.- The book layout is horrible and basic paragraph structure is chaotic. There are randomly reduced font sizes and headings, misnamed chapters due to the lack of focus on the subject at hand.- The writing is so drab, inefficient, and unrefined. I am surprised it was actually printed.- Most of all: shame on the educators and professionals that endorsed this book on the back cover. Those endorsements are the reason I took a chance and bought the book. Those professionals, from some of the most esteemed universities and organizations, obviously did not read the book. If the author would have brought me a draft to endorse, I would have told him that it is not acceptable, especially as a graduate level book or a book at any level where it may be placed in front of the mind of an eager student.- Shame on the publisher for printing this book and distributing it to the world. It is a poor reflection of their brand that they would allow this material to be sold in this condition.- If any learning institution applies this book to their curriculum, then shame on them too.

Dry material but good overview of subjects outlined in the table of contents. Important to note that the book continually references an online accompanying website, I guess you are to get access to as a student. If reading for general knowledge this can be slightly frustrating not being able to see docs that are referenced in the text.

Very densely packed with the right information needed to better understand Real Estate law.

Peter Smirniotopoulos’ book, "Real Estate Law: Fundamentals for The Development Process", is a text book that I want to read! Having been lucky enough to have been a student of one of Professor Smirniotopoulos’ real estate classes at George Mason University, I can tell you from experience that his sense of scale, community, and his Development Process of Building clearly defines not just how buildings are built, but how and why they are lived in. The priceless information found in "Real Estate Law" will not be found in a normal real estate text book. Most text books just give you a lot of facts about zoning regulations and the legalities of building. Peter Smirniptopoulous makes buildings and the communities in which they are placed, come alive. His depth of knowledge and historical information is formidable and his experience as a community builder nicely compliments the information in this text book. I highly recommend this book as a resource not just for students, but for contractors and community builders alike.

As a current real estate professional I recognize immediately the immense utility of this textbook; as a former student of Professor Smirniotopoulos' I recognize immediately the same attention to detail and thoughtful structure that made his class particularly successful. This book contains the fundamental building blocks that underpin each step of the development process and provides both illustrative details and an in-depth historical basis for each concept. While the world of real estate development is littered with local regulations and processes, this book provides a more universal framework for understanding and dealing with the key issues and in that regard would be useful to professionals and students across local markets. I can see this book being particularly helpful to someone switching industries into real estate who wants to deeply understand the key considerations that are involved in contract negotiations and zoning processes.

Peter Smirniotopoulos’ book, Real Estate Law: Fundamentals for The Development Process, demonstrates that a subject matter textbook can be both informative and user-friendly, simultaneously fact-laden while also engaging. While drawing upon his extensive and wide-ranging practical experience – in real estate development, law, urban planning and teaching – Professor Smirniotopoulos channels his unique perspective and intellectual curiosity into the crafting of a well-organized, thoughtful and practical guide for the student and professional alike. If you don’t have the good fortune (as I did) to be a student or colleague of Peter’s, avail yourself of the opportunity to benefit from his extraordinary ability to share his vast knowledge of this subject matter by acquiring this must-have resource book.