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Forums » Real Estate Guru, Book & Course Reviews and Discussions » Best REI book you personally have read.

Best REI book you personally have read. Subscribe to Best REI book you personally have read. 34 posts by 28 users

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John P.

Commercial Real Estate Agent  Fresno, California  Member since Jan '08
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14 Posts

1 award

I hate the antcipation of waiting for a new book to come in the mail and after reading through it realize it is just regurgitated material.
I love to read investing books and want to know which book was most informative, aspiring, or helped you in your REI career and why.

Sponsors:

Tyler C.

Real Estate Investor  Aurora, Illinois  Member since Oct '08
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69 Posts

66 Influence

Rich Dad Poor Dad is by far the most inspiring book to me. Another great book I own is called Weekend Millionaires Mindset: Investing in Real Estate. Both great books. I am a newbie by all means, but has been very informative and helpful in my spirits and looking at different angles. To me to really get started is to believe in yourself and have the belief that you can make anything happen and Rich Dad Poor Dad gave me that.

Renae B.

Real Estate Investor  Milwaukee, Wisconsin  Member since Jan '09
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37 Posts

7 Influence

1 award

I would have to say it's a tie... " Flip Your Way..." by Preston Ely, but most of all "RICH WOMAN" by Kim Kiyosaki (VERY GOOD FOR WOMEN!!)

Jeffrey K.

Real Estate Investor  Milwaukee, Wisconsin  Member since Jul '08
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433 Posts

2359 Influence

7 awards

I have read two book from the Rich Dad series and thought they were both garbage. If you are looking for something basic start with Robert Irwin. He will give you are very basic overview of REI. From there, you can move on to more advanced books. The Rich Dad stuff is just motivational BS, this might move you to action, but does not give you the information you need to put deals together or even understand many of the basics. He also does not write well and farms his stuff out to other authors and then just puts his brand's stamp on it. Just my .02.

Summerhomes

Real Estate Investor  Canyon Lake, California  Member since Nov '08
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151 Posts

469 Influence

2 awards

Jeffrey, what would some of the "more advanced books" be?

Tim W.

Real Estate Investor  Indiana, Indiana  Member since Jan '08
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3222 Posts

12186 Influence

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Rich Dad Poor Dad by far. It gets the most basic principle of investing and brings it down to the most digestible level. The rich get rich because they buy assets that buy their stuff. Accumulate assets to build your passive income. That's it. That's all you NEED to know about investing. After that, it's just a matter of learning technical details of what type of investing you do and consistently applying that core RD PD principle. You could raise beef cattle and reinvest the profits into an orchard and still be following the RD PD principle.

Tim

Tom S.

Real Estate Investor  Rochester, New York  Member since Jan '08
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93 Posts

34 Influence

1 award

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... and 36 Other Key Financial Measures".

The first one is motivation, changing your mindset, and a basic overview of why/how for real estate. The second give you many different formulas to use when evaluating real estate.

No N.

  Manhattan, New York  Member since Aug '08
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805 Posts

230 Influence

2 awards

The Psychology of the Deal.

DemosL

Real Estate Investor  Dale City, Virginia  Member since Oct '08
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279 Posts

1458 Influence

4 awards

Although not a book, I really like Mike Collins' "Confessions of a Real Estate Wholesaler". It's a series of 9 videos. You don't get a lot of detail and you have to have an understanding of wholesaling before watching it. He does make everything clear. You can watch it and hear the light bulbs going off in your head. You will have aha moments. Grin

Dan E.

Real Estate Investor  Bartlett, IL  Member since May '08
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45 Posts

Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Understanding fundamental investing and how the rich THINK is the peredyne shift you will need to allow you to become rich. Once you understand and build your "passive" income base, you can focus on "technical investing" which is reading the market and knowing when to sell and move on to the next phase of your investing and/or business.

Matthew G.

Real Estate Investor  Berwyn, Illinois  Member since Jan '08
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342 Posts

601 Influence

5 awards

Rich Dad Poor Dad is not a REI book. It is more like a general/philosophy business book along the lines of Millionaire Next Door, Getting Things Done, etc.

If you want a good REI book, at K2-like level they tend to fall into 3 categories, commercial, flipping and buy/hold.

A good flipping book is FLIP: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit by Rick Villani, Clay Davis, and Gary Keller

A good buy and hold book is 2 Years to a Million in Real Estate by Matthew A. Martinez

John P.

Commercial Real Estate Agent  Fresno, California  Member since Jan '08
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14 Posts

1 award

Can anybody give a review of Psychology of the Deal?

Frances L.

Homeowner  Abington, Pennsylvania  Member since Jan '09
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42 Posts

54 Influence

Originally posted by Jeffrey Koenig
If you are looking for something basic start with Robert Irwin..


Jeffrey ;

What books for starter ?

Thx.

Jeffrey K.

Real Estate Investor  Milwaukee, Wisconsin  Member since Jul '08
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433 Posts

2359 Influence

7 awards

All of his books are pretty basic that I have read. The one I can see from my computer is "Buy, Rent, and Sell." There is a better one, but I lent it to my mom. Check out amazon and see what users have to say.

Diane M.

Contractor  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  Member since Nov '08
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185 Posts

108 Influence

I read the RD PD books and I found them helpful both in motivating and in illustrating of how balance sheet and income statements work together.

As I develop the thing I see is knowing how to understand your finanical statements is key to any serious growth.

A great book for this is Thomas Ittelson's 'Financial Statements" by Career Press. In this book you follow the creation and development of an applesause company, from the simple financial statements at it conception to later more complicated satements that come with growth.

Good business practices are a must.

Enjoy the read.

Jon H.

Real Estate Investor  Denver, Colorado  Member since Jan '08
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7712 Posts

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I will say there is no "best" RE (or any other topic) book. I just went and counted 30 books and thats only in the two spots where I can easily find them. Doesn't count the ones scattered around the house. Some are very specific to particular aspects of real estate investing, some are like RDPD, some are more purely investing in general, and some, like the 2006 International Residential Code, are specific to construction. All are relevant. When I go to a book store (not as much now that the wife has a Kindle) I still thumb through the RE and investing books looking for something interesting. Don't try to read just one book and think that will tell you what you need to know. Read a lot of different books. Always be looking for something new and interesting.

John C.

Real Estate Investor  Cincinnati, Ohio  Member since May '08
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116 Posts

303 Influence

2 awards

Every time I finished reading a book, I thought it was the best book until I read another real estate book. I started with Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and I found it to be a great starter/fundamental read. I do believe people can find better methods of investing outside of Rich Dad principles. Also, I really recommend reading "Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur." It was really entertaining and information reading ways that he created value in commercial real estate.

Jon K.

Real Estate Investor  Dallas, Texas  Member since Dec '08
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693 Posts

10895 Influence

12 awards

"Also, I really recommend reading "Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur." It was really entertaining and information reading ways that he created value in commercial real estate."

I just read this one last month and liked it a lot. His personal stories of dealmaking make it fairly riveting.

This is the first of 25 RE books I plan to read this year, so I may feel differently by the end of 2009.

Check out my Amazon review of "Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur".

Klyde W.

    Member since Jan '09
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29 Posts

86 Influence

1 award

Here is an article from this website that has 6 great real estate books. Some of them I actually used in my Graduate degree classes.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2009/01/01/6-reads-investors/

Dave V.

Real Estate Investor  Murray Hill, New Jersey  Member since Jun '08
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168 Posts

228 Influence

3 awards

Check out Section 8 Bible, volumes 1 and 2. If that's your niche, you'll love both of these books.

   

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