Before co-founding BH3 Management, a real estate company that has invested in more than $1.5 billion in commercial debt and equity, Daniel Lebensohn was a Jewish boy in 1970s Long Island interested in going on joy rides with his friends, getting into fist fights and chasing girls.

After seeing his father's business savvy with rental properties, Lebensohn developed a new mission: to embrace a winning real estate mindset and become a world-class investor. From there, his dreams of writing the next Great American Novel gave way to legal and financial ambitions as he transformed from rebellious teenager to real estate success story.

After bouncing back from an imploded startup during the dot-com bust and learning from one of the tri-state area's most prominent real estate dynasties, Lebensohn began using deal making as a creative outlet by artfully syndicating his own real estate deals and investing in distressed debt with his lifelong friends. Still, despite his success, a deeper artistic streak tugged at him.

After relocating to Florida, Lebensohn and his business partners found the deal of a lifetime: an undeveloped island in the bay of Miami that their firm had carte blanche to build on. Bursting with ideas, he befriended muralists and commissioned local architects to bring his ultimate creative statement to life-until a multi-year lawsuit halted construction riled the entire city and threatened to destroy everything he and his partners had worked for.

Authentic yet practical, The Art of the Real is a treasure trove of hard-earned wisdom about competing in the most cutthroat markets in the world without losing a sense of joy-or your childhood best friends. A real estate memoir like no other, Lebensohn takes readers on a fast-paced ride which proves that when it comes to business, nurturing lifelong relationships offers the greatest possible returns on sweat equity.