The other big investor with TPG's real-estate program is Ivanhoe Cambridge, the property investor for Canadian pension manager Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec.
"I don't miss the red-eye flights or putting on pantyhose or the stress of not being within driving distance of my 20-month-old son, "says Ren Shimada Siegel, a former Novell marketing manager who now runs a placement agency from her home.
Why continue hustling for commissions selling penny stocks when for the price of having a lawyer draft a believable private placement memorandum, you can call yourself a hedge fund manager?