Real estate columnist, author Robert Bruss dies at 67

SAN FRANCISCO — Robert Bruss, a nationally syndicated real estate columnist, author and investment adviser, has died at his Silicon Valley home. He was 67.

Bruss — known by peers as the "Dear Abby of Real Estate” — had intestinal surgery earlier this year and died of cancer, said Brad Inman, founder and publisher of Inman News.

For 23 years, Bruss wrote seven columns a week for Inman — an Emeryville-based independent news service focusing on real estate. After a brief hiatus earlier this year, he resumed his busy schedule until his death Wednesday in Burlingame.

"Over the years, he helped so many people sort out their various buying and selling questions and was an amazing resource of independent information,” said Jessica Swesey, Inman News editorial and content director. "He was the most prolific writer I’ve ever known, and the entire Inman News team will miss him dearly.”

Bruss’ articles — including the popular "Real Estate Mailbag” question-and-answer column — were syndicated in hundreds of newspapers nationwide and on numerous Web sites.

Bruss, who had an undergraduate business degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, also published monthly newsletters on real estate law and investing issues. He wrote several books, including "The Smart Investor’s Guide to Real Estate.”

Bruss, who was never married and had no children, owned numerous properties, including rental homes, apartments and commercial buildings. His hobby was renovating ramshackle "fixer uppers” in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area.

He was an investment sales manager at Grubb and Ellis Co. Realtors of San Francisco, one of California’s largest statewide real estate brokerages. He taught real estate law at the College of San Mateo.

Although Bruss focused on real estate trends in the boom-and-bust California market, real estate professionals from around the country mourned his death. The Minneapolis native, who moved to California in the 1960s, was former director of the National Association of Real Estate Editors.

"My jaw literally dropped when I read of the passing of Robert Bruss. I looked forward to his writings and opinions regularly in Inman News,” agent Bob Burkhard of Columbia, Md., wrote on the Inman Web site dedicated to Bruss.

"I didn’t know him, but I felt like I knew him after reading him for so long. I am saddened, and I will miss him.”