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T HE T RUMP T OUCH

When it comes to bathrooms, try to make them as spacious as
circumstances allow. Put extra dollars in countertops, vanities, and
lighting fixtures. The bathtub should be a Jacuzzi, if feasible. Stor-
age space and soothing color combinations are necessities.
Another winning feature is closets with built-ins such as shoe
racksand adjustable shelving. Always ask yourself, “Where can I
spend my renovation or building money to make the greatest visual
impact?” Put your money on the answer.

Lawrence Welk and the $50/Yard Carpeting

Here’s a great example of a real estate investor who added “the Trump
Touch” to his property, with great results. I have a friend in Los Ange-
les who in the late 1970s was married to the resident manager for one
of Lawrence Welk’s buildings. (In case you’re too young to remember,
Lawrence Welk had his own hit television show which ran for 17 years
during the 1970s and 1980s.) With the huge profits from the show,
Welk invested heavily in southern California real estate, including
Champagne Towers, a very exclusive high-rise apartment building that
overlooked the Santa Monica Pier and the Pacific Ocean. This friend
purchased a 20-unit fixer-upper in a rough part of south central Los
Angeles. Meanwhile, his wife Peggy, the manager of Champagne Tow-
ers, was responsible for replacing the carpet every time a tenant moved
out of Champagne Towers, with new carpet of the tenant’s choice. The
carpeting being replaced was very expensive, top-of-the-line stuff that
cost $50/yard and in many cases was hardly used. So my friend bought
it from his wife (at the market price for used carpet of $1/square yard)
and began installing it in the 20-unit building he owned. Now imagine
this thick, plush “Berber-like” carpeting being installed in ghetto-like
apartments in a very rough neighborhood. The buzz among the build-
ing’s residents was unbelievable. The resident manager had to create a
waiting list for people in the neighborhood who had heard about the

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