Who Exactly Is Barbara Corcoran? Meet Her Family Members

Barbara Corcoran is an American business magnate, investor, TV personality, author, syndicated columnist, and consultant. Corcoran is widely known as one of the savvy investors on ABC reality show Shark Tank. Here is a detailed look at who she is, how she built her wealth, and her family life

Corcoran’s Rags to Riches Story from the Scratch

Barbara Ann Corcoran was born on March 10, 1949, in Edgewater, New Jersey where she also grew up with her nine siblings. Barbara’s dad worked at a printing press while her mom was a housewife. With her dad often moving from one job to the other and her mum not having any source of income, Barbara’s family finances were never stable. They managed to live below average in a blue collar neighborhood in Edgewater.

To worsen matters, Barbara was no genius at school. She attended a Catholic elementary school where she only made under-average grades, earning the “dumb kid” nickname from her teachers and classmates. She however, made managed to make it through high school and even proceeded to St. Thomas Aquinas College in Rockland County, New York, where she graduated in 1971 with a degree in Education.

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To make ends meet, Corcoran worked several odd jobs while in college including as a hot dog vendor. After graduation, she remained in New York and continued moving from job to job. She later worked as a teacher for a year before working as a waiter at a diner. Life was so tough for Barbara that at 23, she had already worked twenty-two jobs!

However, things began to turn around for Barbara in 1973 when she began dating a New Jersey-based contractor named Ray Simone whom she met at the diner where she was working at the time. As their relationship progressed, Simone noticed her personality and predicted she was going to make an excellent real estate sales agent. Simone even gave her a $1,000 loan to start which she gladly accepted, quitting her waitress job in the process.

Barbara has revealed in recent times that she wanted so bad to become her own boss and when the opportunity knocked, she gave it no second thought. According to the motivational speaker, over-thinking your decision makes you lose out on great opportunities. One of her investing motto’s is: Act Spontaneously. In a 2015 interview with Entrepreneur, Barbara explained that she made all her great business decisions that way – “quickly without any thought”.

The Corcoran Group

Corcoran and Simone began a brokerage company named Corcoran-Simone with 14 staff. Simone owned a controlling 51% interest. They began renting apartments and after two years, the business had grown so much that they moved to a bigger office space and even changed their focus to just sales.

Business continued to boom and in 1978 they were recording as much as $560,000 in annual revenue. However, in the middle of paradise, hell struck. Barbara was heartbroken when Simone broke up with her to marry her own secretary.

The break up forced them to divide the company and Barbara soon started her own company, The Corcoran Group even when Simone told her she would never succeed without him. Corcoran has now described those words as “the gift of the lifetime.”

TCG became the first female-owned real estate company in New York. In order to expand her business, she also began publishing “The Corcoran Report” on real estate data trends in New York City. Contrary to Simone’s predictions, Corcoran’s business recorded an impressive success beginning from its first year with a revenue of over $350,000 and 7 agents.

The Corcoran Group in 1993 became one of the first real estate group to begin selling properties online, a move that placed her way ahead of her competitors. By 2001, Barbara had grown the Group into a $5 billion real estate empire (with an annual revenue of $97 million), making it the second-largest private real-estate company in Manhattan. Competitor NRT Incorporated got worried enough and offered her a $20 million for the company, Barbara negotiated the deal to $66 million before giving in.

She has revealed lately that she gladly blew that money away by investing in herself and her own parents. She bought them a house in Florida, a new Lincoln Continental for her dad and a new Mercury Cougar convertible for her mom.

In addition to The Corcoran Group, she also established the Barbara Corcoran Inc., a consulting and TV production company.

Shark Tank Appearances and other Ventures

Barbara was far from being out of a job when she sold her company. Her rags-to-riches story opened the door to more jobs. She received numerous invitations to speak at real estate events, collecting as much as $70,000 for each gig.

Barbara has also penned her experiences and shrewd business advises on many books, most of which have become New York Times best-sellers. She has also become a highly sought-after business consultant. Barbara also writes syndicated columns for the likes of New York Daily News, The Daily Review, More Magazine, and Redbook.

In 2009 landed a spot as one of the six judges on ABC’s hit reality show, Shark Tank alongside Robert Herjavec, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary and Mark Cuban. On the show, Barbara has invested over $5 million in over 30 start-up businesses.

In addition to Shark Tank, Barbara runs her own CNBC show – The Millionaire Broker with Barbara Corcoran. She also runs the podcast, Business Unusual where she shares her business secrets and career successes.

Barbara Corcoran is an accomplished smart woman. Despite having a humble beginning, she has gone on to amass much wealth and make a name for herself. As of 2020, she is worth an estimated $80 million, a figure that holds prospects of increasing in the futures, all things being equal.

Meet Barbara Corcoran’s Husband, Bill Higgins

• Full Name: Bill Higgins
• Date of Birth: December 15, 1952
• Occupation: Retired Naval Officer, former FBI agent
• Spouse(s): Barbara Corcoran (m. 1988)
• No. of Children: 4

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After Ray Simone called it quits with the young success-studded Barbara Corcoran, she met Bill Higgins, a retired Navy Captain and former F.B.I agent. As a top naval officer, Higgins worked in Gulf War I.

Barbara and Bill met each other in 1981 at a conference held in the outskirts of NYC. They subsequently began dating six months later and Barbara soon after, moved in with him in his New Jersey home.

The duo subsequently engaged during a trip to Norway in 1983 and later married on the 1988 Valentine’s Day. The couple have been together ever since and presently live in Manhattan. They celebrated their 30th Wedding anniversary in 2018.

Does She Have Kids?

With Bill Higgins, Barbara Corcoran has two children – a son and a daughter, namely:

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Tom Corcoran Higgins

Barbara had Tom in 1995, after seven years of marriage and failed attempts at conception. She eventually conceived the son at 46 through in-vitro fertilization using an egg one of her younger sisters, Florence donated to her.

Tom has already graduated from Columbia University. Barbara recently shared an IG story that revealed he was getting engaged.

Kate Corcoran Higgins

Ten years after the birth of Tom, Barbara and her husband welcomed a daughter who they named Kate. The couple adopted the baby girl after many years of an exhaustive search for a voluntary baby donor. According to Corcoran, her daughter Kate battles a learning disability – the Empty Next Syndrome.

Meanwhile, Barbara’s children Tom and Kate have four older half siblings from their dad’s previous marriage. Bill Higgins, prior to marrying Corcoran had divorced his first wife with whom he had four children.