Real Estate Investment Books (Pin Me!)

[olbaid07]

Hi Team,

I've been sniffing around real estate for a little while but am a firm believer in doing my research before jumping in.  Unfortunately there isn't a great list of books that are good material for the fine details of real estate investing.  Most seem to be get rich quick schemes and are more about motivating than actually teaching or informing.

Books I've found reviewed/recommended on this website:

1) John T. Reed - Best Practices for the Intelligent Real Estate Investor

2) Frank Gallineli - What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow

Books Recommended on Amazon:

1) Gary Keller - The Millionaire Real Estate Agent / The Millionaire Real Estate Investor

2) Bigger Pockets - The Book on Rental Property Investing / The Book on Managing Rental Properties / The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No Money Down

 

For you savy real estate investors. Are there any books you would recommend or suggest staying away from?  As always, thanks for the suggestions.

[Re3iRtH]

I will just throw in that the best experience is to jump in and get experience that way. Doing real estate requires the equivalent of being able to do 3rd grade math, and that is being generous. Learn the basics of managing your own properties, then hire out a PM as you realize what it takes. I have heard good things about that Gallineli book. Not a substitute for getting into the trenches. This isn't world history or medicine. Do more, read less. I am an avid reader but I'd recommend non-real estate business or philosophy books over RE specific books.

[Ryan]

Reed's and Gallineli's are solid. Reed is utterly no-nonsense. My favorite section of that book is his discussions about risk-- he covers risk in a way that's vitally important for high-income professionals to understand. Start there, it may be the only book you ever need (ie-- it may keep you from ever dabbling in real estate once you understand more about it). Gallineli goes over a few investments and metrics. The first part is a good introduction to real estate investing in general, the second part goes over metrics-- many of which that you probably already knew how to calculate but didn't know had names.

Keller- No idea.

Bigger Pockets (BP)-- Where Reed and Gallineli cover topics in depth, Bigger Pockets is perhaps more approachable, but sometimes skimps on the details. Bigger Pockets is wildly popular, and generally they recommend high leverage. We've been in a bull real estaet market for some time now, so that strategy has worked well for many people. BP is famous for popularizing the "BRRRR" strategy-- Buy-Rehab-Rent-Refinance-Repeat. Basically, buying distressed properties that you wouldn't be able to get a mortgage for, then rehabing and renting it. Then doing a cash-out refinance and buying the next property with that. The problem is, BRRRR takes a lot of work to get right, but has worked well for lots of people. For clinicians, unless you love all things real estate, BRRRR may not be for you.

[The White Coat Investor]

I like both of those first two and have reviewed them on the blog.

If only 1 out of 4 typical investing books is good, it might be only 1 out of 10 real estate ones! I can't believe how many terrible real estate books I've seen.