Making real estate investments is one of the best ways to diversify a portfolio while also adding a hedge against market volatility risk. Because real estate is not directly tied to the market, investing in it can help give stability to a portfolio even when stock prices are fluctuating wildly. There are numerous approaches to investing in real estate. These include real estate investment trusts, turnkey properties, and multifamily rentals. Each approach has its particularities that an investor must get familiar with. Before beginning to invest in real estate, one approach to educate oneself on the ins and outs of the business is to read literature on the subject. Books about real estate investing can provide a high-level overview of navigating the property investing landscape or hone in on the nuances of various property investment kinds. However, which books are worth your attention, and which ones are merely filler? Here are some of the top books on real estate investing that you should consider adding to your collection so that you may successfully navigate each and every stage of the property investing journey.
The Best Overall: The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner
Brandon Turner is an entrepreneur in the real estate industry and serves as the vice president of growth for the popular website BiggerPockets.com, which focuses on real estate investing. He is the author of "The Book on Rental Property Investing," a practical handbook that teaches all you need to know to succeed with rental investments to produce cash flow. In addition, it details the most common errors that real estate investors make and the solutions to those errors. This book can put you in a better position to succeed if you are searching for an introduction to the business of investing in a rental property that is written for novices. It is filled to the brim with straightforward methods and practical pointers for building wealth and preserving it through investments in income-generating rental properties.The Very Best Regarding Commercial Property: Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing by Doug Marshall
Commercial real estate is a different beast compared to residential real estate. You invest in office space, warehouses, distribution centers, data centers, public storage, retail units, and multifamily apartment buildings. All of these things can have dozens or even hundreds of tenants, as opposed to investing in single-family homes or vacation rentals, where you are only dealing with one tenant. When investing in commercial real estate, there is the possibility of a significant return on your investment, but you need also be aware of the risks involved. The book "Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing" provides an introduction to the fundamentals of investing in commercial real estate through the application of six specific laws of real estate investing. These laws are created to maximize an investor's potential for financial gain. Author Doug Marshall explains how to position an investment for optimal cash flow over the long term and determine when it is right to buy a commercial property and when it makes sense to pass on a deal. He also discusses determining when the timing is right to buy a commercial property and when it makes sense to take a pass on a deal.The Very Best Regarding General Investment: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
The book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" guides accumulating wealth and increasing it through investments in tangible assets such as real estate and small enterprises. Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter wrote the book. This book is considered one of the best general readings on investing and personal finance. Yet, real estate investors who read it may gain some essential takeaways. Learning how to establish a wealth mindset that includes real estate as a focal point is more important than learning specific tactics. The central concept is that you should look to real estate as a source of passive income to construct an investment portfolio that delivers reliable returns with less effort and more intelligence. This book will provide you with a lot of motivation and inspiration as you begin your venture into real estate investing.Best For Those Who Wish to Flip Houses: The Book on Flipping Houses by J. Scott
Check out "The Book on Flipping Houses" if you're more interested in playing the short game of flipping houses than the long game of owning rental properties, which is typically linked with playing the long game of owning rental properties. As a professional house-flipper, he has devised a method that has a very high rate of success for discovering houses to flip, rehabilitating them without cutting into his profit margin, and reselling them for the most amount of money possible. This book addresses everything you would need to know about flipping as a strategy for real estate investing, from how to evaluate potential markets to how to secure finance for a rehab property to how to hire contractors, and finally, how to place the home back on the market after it has been remodeled. This book is a complete guide to all the most critical things you need to know about house flipping. Whether you are interested in flipping one home at a time or developing a full-scale house-flipping business, this book will show you all you need to know.Finest on Real Estate Taxes: The Book on Tax Strategies by Amanda Han and Matthew McFarland
Investing in real estate, like investing in any other asset, can significantly impact one's tax situation. As a real estate investor, you can write off various costs, but the important thing is to ensure that you are getting the most of each and every deduction to which you are entitled. In addition, to avoid getting in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), you are required to record any income you receive from real estate investments. In "The Book on Tax Strategies," authors Amanda Han and Matthew McFarland, both of whom are qualified public accountants, draw on the information and experience they have gained during their careers to present a comprehensive tax guide for real estate investors. For example, you can get pointers on depreciation and use a self-directed IRA to buy real estate assets here. If you're unsure how depreciation works or how to use a self-directed IRA to acquire real estate investments, you can receive pointers on both topics here. If you want to limit the amount of money you owe Uncle Sam due to your real estate investments, this article is an absolute necessity to read and add to your reading list.Most Effective for Accumulating Wealth: The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller
Wouldn't it be amazing to become a millionaire through intelligent real estate investments? There is only one problem, and that is the fact that you do not have a million dollars lying around to put into property investments. This is one of the problems that "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" attempts to solve. This guide on amassing wealth through real estate investing was compiled by Gary Keller, who drew inspiration from the experiences of more than one hundred millionaire real estate investors. This book debunks some of the most pervasive misconceptions about money and investing—the misconceptions that frequently prevent people from reaching the millionaire status—and teaches readers how to evaluate various real estate investment opportunities to zero in on those that are likely to generate the highest returns. It is not necessary to be wealthy to understand and value the ideas and methods that Keller promotes, but it is possible to become wealthy in real estate if you use the principles he promotes.The Best Option for Investors in REITs: The Intelligent REIT Investor by Brad Thomas and Stephanie Krewson-Kelly
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) can appeal to real estate investors looking for a less active role in the management of their property investments. A REIT is a company which owns property investments. As an investor in a real estate investment trust or REIT, you receive the benefit of dividend income generated by the properties owned by the REIT without any of the headaches that come with being a landlord and having to deal with tenants on a direct level. The book "The Intelligent REIT Investor'' provides an overview of the essential ideas connected to the practice of investing in REITs as a method for amassing wealth. In particular, the authors delve into how to evaluate real estate investment trusts (REITs) and determine which ones to participate in depending on your overall goals, level of comfort with risk, and time horizon for investing. This book can help you in dipping your toes into the world of REITs without getting in your head if you're interested in diversifying your portfolio with real estate investment trusts but have no idea where to begin.Highly recommended for Beginners: The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy
Choose Ken McElroy's book "The ABCs of Real Estate Investing" if you are starting in real estate investing. You will discover fundamentals such as how to amass riches through real estate, methods to locate and evaluate properties, negotiate deals, improve revenue through the use of instruments for property management, and a great deal more, as the title of the book suggests. McElroy, on his own, has more than 26 years of experience working as a senior manager in multifamily asset and property management. Even more, critics agree that this is an excellent beginning book, noting how easy it is to understand and how much information it contains for first-time investors.The Best Regarding Investing Outside of Your State: Long-Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene
The book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" debunks the common belief in the real estate industry that you should only consider investing in properties in your immediate area. Despite the widespread perception that investing outside of one's home state is fraught with peril, author David Greene contends that rules, technology, and markets have evolved to the point where it is now possible to invest profitably anywhere. If you are an investor living in a region that is not particularly suitable for investing, or if you are trying to broaden the scope of your real estate assets across the country, this is an excellent read for you. Greene, who has amassed a portfolio worth multiple millions of dollars, discusses the methods he has used to build wealth by purchasing more than 20 rental properties. Uncover how to find fantastic prices in any state regardless of where you reside, determine which neighborhoods are worth buying in (and which you should avoid), remotely renovate a project, and more.