Review On Real Estate Investment

Review by K. Roberts:

Having been a part-time real estate investor myself, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Steven Fisher’s book. Given the large volume of unhelpful books on real estate investing, I am pleased to see so much valuable information in a single book. If you have been, or plan to get, involved in real estate investing, this is the single best book to use.

Fisher covers all of the strategies that make for successful investing: starting with little money, “flipping,” mortgages, foreclosures, and REO’s. Unlike other books, Fisher also explains the secrets to finding the right properties. Given that property identification is the most common mistake that would-be real estate investors make, this chapter of the book is especially useful.

The book also includes some effective plans for tax advantages and exit strategies. If you want to own and make money from real estate, get this book!

Review by L. Salazar:

Whenever I have thought about investing in real estate, I always dismissed it as a “no, that’s not for me.” I had seen the various folks on TV saying `buy my papers so you can learn the tricks to purchasing homes for pennies on the dollar with no money down’ but I never felt like I could spend the money on their product. Then, after searching through this book by way of the Search Inside and reading a page here and there, I knew I had to purchase it. The information it contained was worth much more than the cost I paid to purchase it.

The book spends a lot of time on understanding the various financial nuances of purchasing real estate. It has various worksheets throughout it to help even the most mathematically challenged person (like me) understand some very complex concepts like interest, mortgage payments, returns on investment and even landlord/tenant agreements. Further, the book offers a basic business plan and guidelines for setting up your own operation.

The book is full of information and offers an accessible look at the world of real estate investment. It acknowledges that the complexity of real estate while keeping the text easy-to-understand and interesting. The step-by-step approach the book takes makes it an excellent resource for an investment beginner like me. I’m sure that a more seasoned investor would also find useful information in the book as well. I’m confident the small investment price I paid for the book will multiply exponentially as I put the information into action and start my own investment program.

Review by Waseem:

I was trying to decide whether to buy this book or the “cash flow” one, since my library had the cash flow book I purchased this one. However, the cash flow book turned out to be superior and much of this book simply rehashes it but with less detail. Basically, the cash flow book as a section on valuation then details on the 37 calculations he uses; this book has the 37 calculations again, but in less detail, then has a section on example valuations.

Overall, this book is okay, but stand-alone the cash flow book is superior.

Review by Jorge L. Rivera:

“You should recognize that investing is a program for the long-term building of wealth, and it has little or nothing to do with speculation.”

The above quote, directly from the book, instantly resonated with me. Frank Gallinelli wants to help you become the (unassuming) ‘millionaire next door.’ Not with get-rich-quick, info-mercial jargon, but by prodiving the reader with real, wealth-building knowledge. The book spills over with pearls of analytical wisdom specific to real estate investing. The current market is ripe with opportunity and this book does a great job of simply explaining complex calculations that should be part of every real estate investor’s evaluation process. All the best to you.

Review by john zack:

I bought the top 3 r.e. books (Investing in Real Estate, Real Estate Riches, Unofficial Guide). I could have bought just this one. It covers EVERYTHING the other books go over, AND it gives you FAR MORE DETAILS and far better explanations. I urge you to compare the contents–buying foreclosures, buying bargains, creative improvements, financing, paying less taxes, predicting appreciation, valuing properties. You will see what I mean. While Unofficial clearly beats Riches, it still gives you wrong or glossed over info much of the time. Unofficial is especially weak on financing, buying bargains, foreclosures, and valuation, though it’s pretty good on management. I can offer this critique because Investing In Real Estate set the standard from which I could make an intelligent comparison. All of those readers who rated UNOFFICIAL with five stars could not have known much about real estate. They surely believed that they learned more than they actually did. Over and over, I read similar topics in IRE and Unofficial, and each time I developed my understanding from IRE and quickly spotted the glibness of Unofficial. Don’t take my word for it. Go into a bookstore and compare for yourself. As to Real Estate Riches, DON”T BOTHER–unless you’re a rich dad groupie.

Review by Cassidy Uranne:

This is the 5th r.e. book on investing I’ve read. But it was the first one to recognize that we’re no longer living in the 1980s or even the early 90s. Sorry folks you can’t buy foreclosures at pennies on the dollar. You can’t find “motivated” sellers who will let you steal their properties for 60 cents on the dollar. Non-qual assumptions? Good luck trying to find one that’s workable. Cash back at closing–dream on! Yes the gurus will lead you to believe that anyone can use these and many other outdated and super risky “creative” techniques. I know from experience because I wasted much money, time and effort chasing after their promised rainbows. Luckily, this book offered welcome relief. Factual, up-to-date, and very specific about the real opportunities (and pitfalls) in foreclosures, high leverage, property improvements, and tenant management. Do yourself a favor. Before you run amok with illusive hopes, read this “state-of-the art” guide. Some years ago I read a great book (Million Dollar Habits) by Robert Ringer. The first chapter was called “The Reality Principle.” Well, Investing In Real Estate stands as one good dose of reality. This is the most real-world introduction I’ve found.

Review by David A. Taylor:

I recently decided to look into investing in residential real estate, but I didn’t know enough about the financial risks and rewards to determine whether this would make sense for me. So I decided to give myself a quick education by reading the best books I could find on the subject. I had to wade through a lot of get-rich-quick-without-any-money books to find the good ones, but I wound up with ten books that looked like they had good, solid information for would-be investors. After working my way through all ten books, I can tell you without reservation that Gallinelli’s book is head and shoulders above the rest. There was something to be learned from each them, of course, but the others tended to get a bit fuzzy about the financial details, often substituting simplistic rules of thumb for real analysis or doing a hand wave just about the time I needed hard information. Worse, there was a disturbing lack of consistency among the books where they did provide financial details, and there was no obvious way to sort out which book had the right take on a particular calculation or financial ratio. And it seems to me that, important as general principles may be, if the financials don’t work then nothing else matters very much.Fortunately, Gallinelli took me right down into the nitty gritty stuff and showed me, step by step, just how the whole business works. He was also the only author to even consider the possibility that I, as a modern-day investor, might have the ability to run these calculations in a spreadsheet, and he provides clear instructions for entering the required formulas in Excel. Not that you have to be an Excel user to benefit from this book; the financial analyses he describes are absolutely essential to knowing what you’re getting into, and you need to run them whether you do it on a calculator, use packaged financial analysis software, or build your own spreadshet. But for those who do know how to use Excel, it’s a tremendous benefit to have the step-by-step instructions right there.After reading this book, I now understand how to figure out the total return on a residential property from all it’s sources, including operating income, depreciation writeoffs, equity accrual, appreciation, and capital gains benefits, and I know how to calculate the effect of leverage on each of these sources. Better still, based on the formulas Gallinelli provides, I can quickly see how these sources play off against each other to predict my total return on investment in any particular scenario. More than any other book I read, this one prepared me to analyze a candidate property and evaluate its potential return, allowing me to determine whether it’s a good investment and, if so, under what price and financing conditions. Based on what I’ve learned, I’m now shopping for apartment buildings to make my first acquisition.Of the ten books I purchased, nine now sit on my shelf within easy reach. But this one sits right next to me and will always be close at hand. If you are thinking about investing in real estate, buy this book and read it before you do anything else. It’s that good.

Review by Rosalind Resnick:

Before you invest into income-producing real estate, be sure to pick up a copy of Frank Gallinelli’s excellent book, What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow…And 36 Other Key Financial Measures: Guidelines, Formulas, and Rules of Thumb for Making Money in Real Estate. While the title may sound somewhat forbidding, the book is so well-written and accessible that even novice investors who wouldn’t know a cap rate from a rate of return can quickly and easily master key concepts such as present value, gross scheduled income and discounted cash flow. Better yet, Gallinelli offers free spreadsheets that you can download from his site that do the numbers-crunching for you. I like to think that I’m a pretty savvy investor, but, thanks to Frank and his amazing formulas, I narrowly avoided overpaying for a five-story office building in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. While there’s no guarantee that the seller will accept my lower offer, I feel confident that, if I do get the deal, I will be paying a fair price now that Frank has taught me how to do the math.

Review by W. Landers:

The book was in new condition. There were no creased pages, highlights or notes written in the book and the CD was attached and had new been opened. This was an example of very good condition.

Review by T. collins:

Book came in fantastic condition and came within a week. I needed the book for a class and paid .97, love it!!

Review by W Boudville:

For serious investors pondering whether to indulge in real estate, this book provides an indepth look at the factors you should be aware of. It explains the main types of real estate – residential, commercial, industrial. Each has its quirks, with its own pricing, investment history and tax considerations.

For example, there is consideration of foreclosed homes. Giving an analysis of the costs of buying this REO from a bank and then fixing it up for resale. The different types of acquisition fees you are likely to encounter are given. Along related lines, there is a study of a personal residence. Should you rent or own this? The conclusions can and will vary with market conditions and geography. Unlike what a realtor might tell you, the book has no automatic bias towards owning a home.

On a larger scale, the book tells how to evaluate many types of property for income streams. Along with possible financial leverages schemes, to bootstrap your portfolio.

Review by Sergei:

This book was required for my RE class at school, so I had to buy it. But unlike many college text books, which will sit on the shelf unused 90% of the time, this one actually proved to be very, very useful. It covers financial and some legal aspects of all major categories of real estate. It helps to be familiar with DCF, TVM and other basic accounting concepts before starting this book.

Review by J. E. Rexroth:

For clarity of style and reasonableness of approach to its subject, David Crook’s THE WALL STREET JOURNAL COMPLETE REAL-ESTATE INVESTING GUIDEBOOK may not have a peer in the realm of investing advice.

Crook shines an antiseptic light on the shadowy “get rich quick” hucksterism that has plagued the world of real estate investing as a byproduct of a long runup in prices, a phenomenon that has also accompanied strong bull markets in US stocks intermittently for two centuries. And he does much more: he introduces, in a genial and accessible style, the complex details of buying real property for profit, as opposed to simply watching your own home’s price rise and thinking of that as “investing.”

His discussion of taxes, a particularly convoluted and arcane – yet crucial – area, is logical and well organized.

The author makes no secret of the fact that real estate investing, like all other kinds, is not sorcery and requires careful research, hard work, thorough preparation, and, most important of all, close attention to detail. Given a realistic understanding of the challenge, one can partner with this book as an inexpensive but wise adviser. It won’t get you rich quick on no money down, but it will help you to make cautious and fact based decisions that are crucial to successful investing in any realm.

As a hedge fund manager, I am exposed to written financial advice of one sort or another virtually every minute of the day. I haven’t seen writing that is more scrupulously researched and thoughtful (yet also personable) than that in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL COMPLETE REAL-ESTATE INVESTING GUIDEBOOK. I heartily recommend it.

Review by Elle Michion:

There are no cutely named house-flipping schemes here. There are no touchy-feely chapters to help you find the “courage to be rich.” But for smart advice and an inspiring overview of the business of real-estate investing, this book is a must-read. Crook, editor of The Wall Street Journal Sunday, leads aspiring investors through locating, vetting and securing seed money for properties small and large. He also gives tips for managing your investment once you’ve made it. Surprisingly this potentially dry topic is anything but, thanks to lively writing, stories from real-life investors and witty one-liners. (On borrowing down-payment money from family members: “An ‘Uncle Al’ interest rate inevitably comes with Uncle Al’s interest in your business.”) If nothing else, read it to find out why your home does NOT count as an investment property.

Review by E. Lundberg:

This is a fantastic book about investing in mobile home parks. The authors have decades of experience buying, selling, operating, and turning around mobile home parks. They have owned over 50 mobile home parks. This book is based on real world experience that the authors used to make a lot of money from mobile home park real estate investing. The advice the authors give readers in this book will be extremely helpful to anyone interested in investing in mobile home parks, whether you are an expert or a novice investor.

Review by Deanna Stephens:

This is one of the Best books on Mobile Home Park Investments I have ever read. The 10/20 Investment System is a must read for anyone interested in the Mobile Home Park Industry. With the information provided in this one book, you can not lose.