Getting started with real estate investing - books and resources

[dabuff]

Hello all,

I have always loved equity investing because with only a computer can participate without even leaving the office.

 

Even if I do not embark on an adventure in real estate investing, I realize it would certainly be of some value to learn about the process (especially as some attractive prospective equity investments hinge on an understanding of real estate).

 

Unfortunately, it seems that there is quite a lot of garbage/scams/fodder to sort through - from my preliminary research, these seem to be the only worthwhile resources I can find.

 

-The books of William Poorvu: The Real Estate Game, Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth

 

- What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures

 

-This thread: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/real-estate-investing-general/

 

 

Would anyone with more experience be able to recommend books and other resources to learn the art of real estate investing, from novice and above? Is there a real estate investing equivalent of the Intelligent Investor and/or Security Analysis?

 

Thanks!

[rishig]

Hello all,

I have always loved equity investing because with only a computer can participate without even leaving the office.

 

Even if I do not embark on an adventure in real estate investing, I realize it would certainly be of some value to learn about the process (especially as some attractive prospective equity investments hinge on an understanding of real estate).

 

Unfortunately, it seems that there is quite a lot of garbage/scams/fodder to sort through - from my preliminary research, these seem to be the only worthwhile resources I can find.

 

-The books of William Poorvu: The Real Estate Game, Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth

 

- What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures

 

-This thread: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/real-estate-investing-general/

 

 

Would anyone with more experience be able to recommend books and other resources to learn the art of real estate investing, from novice and above? Is there a real estate investing equivalent of the Intelligent Investor and/or Security Analysis?

 

Thanks!

 

There is an old Poorvu book that has case studies (that he used for his class at Harvard) - "The Real Estate Challenge: Capitalizing on Change". I found them very interesting. Also, you see from these cases how things can go south and one really needs to play in niche local markets to add value (and hence money) if one is going to be in the development business.

[Pelagic]

There's a decent discussion going on real estate investing in the strategies sub-forum.

 

http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/strategies/real-estate-13638/

 

I'll recommend BiggerPockets.com here like I did there, it's a great resource full of a lot of very knowledgeable real estate investors and if you spend time there you'll find the community is pretty helpful much like CoBF's.

 

Someone gave me this book to read a couple years ago and I enjoyed it, thought the author had a pretty level headed take on the real estate market and had some good ideas on how to build a stream of cash flow from your investments.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JK9B6E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

[dabuff]

Thank you for your thoughts! Will check out those resources.

[shhughes1116]

Thank you for your thoughts! Will check out those resources.

 

One other suggestion.  Books will be helpful to build a foundation of knowledge, and  that is a great place to start.   

 

As you progress in your knowledge/learning, I think in the area of real estate, the insight of a mentor will be priceless for you.  I happened to work with someone who became somewhat of a mentor to me in real estate.  It benefited me because we both had a similar mindset - very conservative - and a similar background - small part-time real estate investor/operator.  He pointed out a lot of pitfalls that I would never have picked up from a book (i.e. finding, screening, and dealing with tenants; picking up on bulls**t when evaluating/buying property). 

[dabuff]

Great idea - will definitely be on the lookout. At this stage, I will try to learn about real estate for its own sake and seek out someone with more experience if potential deals arise.

Thank you for your thoughts! Will check out those resources.

 

One other suggestion.  Books will be helpful to build a foundation of knowledge, and  that is a great place to start.   

 

As you progress in your knowledge/learning, I think in the area of real estate, the insight of a mentor will be priceless for you.  I happened to work with someone who became somewhat of a mentor to me in real estate.  It benefited me because we both had a similar mindset - very conservative - and a similar background - small part-time real estate investor/operator.  He pointed out a lot of pitfalls that I would never have picked up from a book (i.e. finding, screening, and dealing with tenants; picking up on bulls**t when evaluating/buying property).

[ni-co]

I liked Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur by James Randel. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071467939/

[winjitsu]

On a similar topic, anyone have any rec related to books or articles on investing in REITs?