In an earlier thread I was asked by another boarder to give my opinion on the new book "Making Hard Cash In A Soft Real Estate Market" by Wendy Patton and Justin Ryan.

I just read the book and found it to be an easy read that had some good information. However I found the book to be a bit light in terms of providing readers with "how to" strategies that I could follow and implement.

The point the authors make is that while many people are leaving the marketplace due to the media's drumbeat of "crashing RE markets" and the increase in market supply, savvy investors should be buying as many good deals as they can instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for the market to finish its correction. They also emphasize that buying at the right price and having multiple exit strategies is very important in a soft market since property appreciation alone, which may have worked in recent years, is not a viable exit strategy.

They spend a good deal of the book explaining that investors need to invest outside of their own backyards and find emerging markets. While they explain what some of the indicators are that they use to determine what would make a good emerging market, they do not really get into the nuts an bolts of exactly how to conduct this research.

All in all I thought the book was good and it definitely gave me some moments of inspiration of things I can change in my own investing career, however I would have preferred more practical "how to" information versus theory.

This is a book that I believe would be helpful for experienced investors. I have been building my business for just about a year now and am still pretty "green". The educational books that I find helpful for me are more practical and process driven rather than theoretical.

Just my .02 -

Rich