By Peter Guzzman

Those of us who read the daily paper and watch TV are intimately familiar with the weekly news stories about youthful computer wizards who claim overnight fame and fortune with Internet based ideas. This new breed of entrepreneur lose their "paper" net worth very often over night as quickly as they make it as new ideas supercede their innovations.
It is not often that you read of a real estate phenomenon, an entrepreneur who has somehow "unlocked" the secret of putting together deals and significant net worth with the simplest business in the world — the purchase and sale of real estate. It does not take much education or intellect to understand the rules that govern making money in real estate — buy low, sell high; however, the number of individuals that succeed in the business at the highest level (several hundred million dollars) can be counted only on one hand. Luke Brugnara is one of these unique phenomenons who has literally gone from a negligible net worth to a net worth of over a quarter of a billion dollars in less than seven years without the use of any partners.
Brugnara, 35, began his real estate career in 1988, two months after he graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in Communications. He began working at a private mortgage banking firm where he learned the idiosyncrasies of commercial real estate finance. As he assisted others in obtaining finances for proposed real estate deals, it became readily apparent to Brug-nara that the key ingredients to a successful real estate maker were to 1) have a very good deal, and 2) have the guts to move on the deal immediately without hesitation. He continued to watch moderately successful real estate players engage this simple philosophy with remarkable results. Brugnara soon learned that money is always available for a good deal. The key is to find that deal before anyone else and make the purchase by tying up the property with cash to enable yourself to close the deal.
Brugnara patiently waited for that first deal which came three and one-half years later in 1992 when Brugnara was able to purchase a $12.5 million first TD on a property in downtown San Francisco through bankruptcy court from American Savings for only $1.5 million. Brugnara was able to get such a great deal on the property because the lender was going to write the deficiency as bad debt and needed the property off their books; they had been party to the bankruptcy for over four years and spent nearly $800,000 in out-of-pocket additional expenses… the property was literally handed to Brugnara for this negligible price. Brug-nara immediately took out a $3 million mortgage on the property and used the extra money to make four additional purchases of distressed commercial real estate in 1993. These four purchases were eventually sold less than six years later for over $30 million in profit as this capital seeded larger purchases for Brugnara.
Soon all of San Francisco took notice of Brugnara’s real estate conquests and began referring to him as "Lucky Luke" as he had made a significant fortune in one of the hottest real estate markets in the country (San Francisco) right under the noses of some of the most experienced real estate investors in the country. Lucky Luke was praised for his ability to make decisions to purchase real estate right on the spot and often made deposits on his purchases within hours of hearing of properties for sale from his tight knit group of brokers.
Because Brugnara closed on each and every deal which he entered into contract and because his meteoric rise to power and wealth in downtown San Francisco nearly happened overnight and took the business community by surprise, Brugnara has earned a reputation as an aggressive, maverick real estate deal maker who is batting 1000% and is very much the person to watch.

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