Thread: Real estate investing question!

Real estate investing has always been an interest of mine, but I cant seem to find any good books that cover the ins and outs entirely. Can anyone refer me to a good book on investing in real estate? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

not sure a book will do you any good. it's truly about understanding your individual market and defining your ultimate goals. are you looking at residential or commercial, long term rentals, quick flips, are you okay with section 8, what are you willing to pay to enter the market, do you understand which neighborhoods in your market are 'good buys', do you understand the risks, do you awnt to set up an llc, scorp, corp., etc.

there are a lot of ways to make a lot of money in real estate, but its really hard to do all things at once, focus your interest a bit more and im sure other lp4ers will chime in to help.

Originally Posted by token

do you awnt to set up an llc, scorp, corp., etc.

This is an interesting point, IMO, it isn't a "Want" but a mandatory step when playing in the RE game.

Too much protection is barely enough IMO.

I haven't found any books that are really great yet, but admittedly I haven't looked very hard either. My sources of advice and info come from guys who have made a career of it and have had some reasonably good success. I've taken a little of the "what to do's" and ALL of the "what NOT to do's" and am attempting to make a buck at it.

Though, at least at this point in time, I'm not looking for any type of immediate cashflow or plan on making a career of it. All my RE play is shooting for a long term payoff. Building some solid financial base, planning for my unborn kids college expenses, all that boring responsible crap.

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor - Gary Keller
If you're interested in Lease Options, check out the Peter Conti / David Finkel books
Donald Trump's "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Recieved" has 100 short pieces of advice / thoughts from different real estate experts and might give you some good ideas...
2 Years to a Million in Real Estate by Matthew Martinez was pretty good as well...

What sort of investing are you interested in?

Originally Posted by anon

This is an interesting point, IMO, it isn't a "Want" but a mandatory step when playing in the RE game.

agreed. i guess i meant, what type of protection is right for you. the family's in real estate so this has always been an interesting question. we are split between the commercial properties that are 'actively managed businesses' (mostly hotels) each under an individual llc and the residential rentals under the siblings names depending on who put down the most $, and then private residences put into trusts.

always remember, separate liability and liens. don't combine mortgages, don't roll multiple properties into the same corp, etc.

Originally Posted by speedingpenguin

Donald Trump's "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Recieved" has 100 short pieces of advice / thoughts from different real estate experts and might give you some good ideas...

i <3 that trump publishes despite his numerous failures and bankruptcies. he's lucky he's branded himself so well in the 2000's because he's a pretty terrible r.e. investor.

I'm by no means a Donald Trump expert, but I'd say he's pretty good at what he does... he's failed, and bounced back more times than most people can say they have... he's lost more money than most people would make in a lifetime... Don't they say that you learn the most from your failures? In this case, wouldn't Trump have far more knowledge in huge real estate deals than most investors because he made mistakes that cost him (b/m)illions?

I dunno... my own personal opinion is that Trump is great at what he does, which is making money. Whether it's through his personal branding or his real estate investments, whatever he's doing, I'd love to learn how to do it myself!

Originally Posted by speedingpenguin

I'm by no means a Donald Trump expert, but I'd say he's pretty good at what he does... he's failed, and bounced back more times than most people can say they have... he's lost more money than most people would make in a lifetime... Don't they say that you learn the most from your failures? In this case, wouldn't Trump have far more knowledge in huge real estate deals than most investors because he made mistakes that cost him (b/m)illions?

I dunno... my own personal opinion is that Trump is great at what he does, which is making money. Whether it's through his personal branding or his real estate investments, whatever he's doing, I'd love to learn how to do it myself!

agreed that no doubt, he has done a fantastic job of developing the 'donald trump' brand, but as a real estate investor, he has failed miserably. if you were given a multi-million dollar safety net, i think you would be almost guaranteed to succeed. initially, trump's dad, an actual successful real estate investor, bailed him out of a number of bad investments. he was forced to declare personal bankruptcy in the early 90s and then his company was forced to officially file for bankruptcy twice and has been forced into 'restructering debt' countless times (legally not bankruptcy, but the company was not able to service existing debt).

the massive midwest project is just the most recent - Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, which is an equally massive financial failure with lawsuits arising from huge unpaid construction liens and a lawsuit from Deutsche bank due, once again, to trump's inability to service debt on the real estate project, totaling over $300million

Interesting stuff...

I'd still be OK with having Trump-like success

Originally Posted by speedingpenguin

Interesting stuff...

I'd still be OK with having Trump-like success

haha. id be ok with having success like trump's hair. which i think made more money than all of his midwest investments last year

there are a few members here that are quite knowledgable on this subject including myself, if you have any question you can just ask, there not a book out there that can teach you the real "in & outs" of investing in RE, IMHO

-good luck!