Books for new investor.

Books for new investor.

Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2012 · 3 posts · 0 votes

Hello, hopefully this is the right forum for this.

I am 24, and have been working the same job for 4 years. I have been out of college for 1 year and am without debt currently (aside from my own mortgage). After graduating I really got into the whole pay yourself first, and savings attitude. I spend almost nothing on myself and invest it all in low expense index funds (vanguard). The books I read along this avenue included the millionaire next door, all of Jack Bogles books, and the richest man in babylon. I mention these books so hopefully you can see the type of investor I'm looking to be; that is a buy and hold long term investor. I took about a year of reading books and researching before I felt confident enough to jump into something even as low maintenance as an index fund.

My real question: It seemed through reading some books that a great match to my strategy was long term buy and hold rental properties in my area (Las Vegas). I am definitely not naive enough to think I can just jump right in to what you guys do, but am eager to learn everything I can on the subject from the beginning.

tl;dr: If you could, please suggest some books and classics that I may read to get into landlording for the long term. I have looked for a bit but it seemed like no real estate investing titles jumped out as 'classic" 'must reads' like some of the investing books I had picked up in the past.

Thanks so much!

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Real Estate Investor · the villages, FL · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
14y

Hi Jeff-I would suggest you do some research here on BP for other threads discussing the same question. There have been many books suggested by different BP members and I'm sure you would find some to your liking. Rich

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  • Real Estate Investor · the villages, FL · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    14y

    Hi Jeff-I would suggest you do some research here on BP for other threads discussing the same question. There have been many books suggested by different BP members and I'm sure you would find some to your liking. Rich

  • Will BarnardPro Member
    Moderator
    Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    14y

    In addition to books, simply engaging the community in the landlording forums can provide you a wealth of info in this area, most of which is hands on (which most books lack).

    Vegas - You are in a perfect location (from my perspective) for landlording. In my opinion, you have the best of two worlds: 1. Cash flow (real cash flow) and 2. Appreciation.

    Cash flow because the cost of property there vs. the rent equates to cash flow (so long as you buy right) and the current market values are so far below the cost to build (almost half the cost) that eventually, values must come back to at least the cost to build which equates to appreciation.

    Don't thing for one minute that you can not jump in and make some landlording money, just get educated first.

  • Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2012 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    14y

    Hi Will,

    Thanks for the advice and motivation. I will absolutely check out the landlording forums to get some hands on advice. I just wanted to get some book smarts at the same time. Unfortunately from searching on this site I'm honestly not seeing much in the way of book recommendations currently. But I'll keep searching.

  • Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    14y

    Jeff Conradi - Here's a link with some book recommendations:

    http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/152-real-estate-investing-books

    Everyone is going to have their own personal opinions on "the best" books, which is no doubt going to be influenced by their individual investment strategy. If you liked The Richest Man in Babylon, you might also like "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.

    I've read a LOT of books on different topics related to real estate, and two recent ones that I really liked were "Buy It, Rent It, Profit!" by Bryan Chavis, and "Investing in Apartment Buildings" by Matthew Martinez.

    I've also heard good things about "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill. However, I haven't read that one yet. I've already bought it and plan to read it next though, as soon as I'm done with the current book I'm reading.

    I like to read a wide variety of books because with any of them you're going to find things that work for you and your personal investment strategy, and things that don't work for you. But the more you read, the more you'll know!

  • Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2012 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    14y

    Kyle,

    Thanks so much. That's just what I was looking for. I'll definitely be picking up a copy of the books you suggested.

  • Investor and Architect · Ramsey, NJ · Member since 2010 · 305 posts · 84 votes
    14y

    1) Investment Analysis for Real Estate Decisions by Greer and Kolbe: After buying books scores of books this book really breaks it down. It is not a light read though. It is a college level textbook. It is expensive. Get it at your library or used.

    2) Investing in Apartment Buildings by Matthew Martinez: Very good book where the author "speaks to you"

    These are the two books I recommend to friends who are interested in buy and hold

    Read these and/then comb through right here on BP to give you the most real world insight until you get your own real world insight.

  • Kerry BairdPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Melbourne, FL · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    14y

    For buy and hold, my favorite two books are Weekend Millionaire by Mike Summey and The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, by Keller.

  • Real Estate Investor · Chattanooga, TN · Member since 2012 · 6 posts · 0 votes
    14y

    Jeff,
    Thanks for posting this topic. I am also just getting started in real estate investing and have been looking for good books on the subject. I know Kyle J. already mentioned it, but I just finished "Buy It, Rent It, Profit" by Chavis and it was really good. Another good one by Matthew Martinez is "How To Make Money In Real Estate In The New Economy."

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