real estate development

It has been a rough few years for homeowners, and an even worse time for real estate developers. But in a small encouraging sign, luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers is acquiring Seattle-based CamWest Development.

Eric Trump started getting a taste of the family business at young age, tagging along with his real estate and hotel tycoon father, Donald Trump. That early immersion set the stage for Eric's involvement with the Trump Organization as an adult, and his desire to follow in his father's footsteps.

The humbled housing sector took a modest step forward last month as starts rose a better-than-predicted 3.9% to a 530,000-unit annual rate. Still, at the current pace, the nation is 18 to 24 months from seeing normal levels of homebuilding.

Jerilee Wei never expected to be living next to a cow pasture when she bought her home in Lakeland, Fla., in 2007. In her upscale community, newly constructed houses were selling for between $300,000 and $425,000. Then one morning she woke up and found some cattle had moved in.

If you've got cash money, now could be the time to, very selectively, put some of it into real estate. I do a lot of editorial grunt work for the National Association of Realtors. One of the benefits is being privy to practically everything that anybody and everybody writes about the business....