In real estate, you can either build new properties (what a developer does) or buy existing properties (what an investor does). Real Estate investors (i.e. “people who buy existing properties”) have a few options. They can 1) buy, manage, and sell properties themselves (we call these people landlords). They can 2) buy stock in a company that owns many properties (we call such companies “REITs”). Or they can 3) give their money to a someone who buys and sells properties for them, much like a mutual fund company buys and sells stocks on your behalf. In that third scenario, the person who buys and sells real estate on your behalf is called a “fund manager.” The industry is normally called “private equity”.

Today, we are chatting with a fund manager. That’s someone who will take your money and buy and sell properties on your behalf. Although you may not have heard of this kind of figure, they’re actually responsible for the majority of the very large property sales. Think: groups of skyscrapers being sold together as a package deal.

Dietmar Georg co-founded GLL Partners in 2000 in Munich, Germany. He has grown the company to over $5 billion in real estate assets. Because of his experience in fund management, he was asked to teach a course on Global Fund Management at Georgetown University. Hope you enjoy our chat about private equity!