The BEST Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written! [Hardcover]

Monica Villasenor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Throw everything you know about investing in residential real estate out the window! Investing in commercial real estate is a whole different ball game. Described as "The book Robert Kiyosaki's second book should have been.", this tell-it-like-it-is book will teach you everything you should know about building wealth with commercial real estate. Find out why it's easier to purchase commercial real estate than residential real estate, how to find and analyze commercial real estate, learn about common ploys real estate agents and sellers use to sell commercial real estate, common tricks of the trade commercial real estate brokers and lenders don't want you to know about and the 10 Steps to becoming a successful real estate developer. There's no fluff here-just what a novice commercial real estate investor needs to know. Compare it to any other commercial real estate investing book out there and you will see why it's called, "The Best Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written!"

Editorial Reviews

Review

Yes, I'm the one who described this book as "The book Robert Kiyosaki's second book should have been." I've read all of Kiyosaki's books, but it's rare to find a person who takes that knowledge and applies it to their life. That is exactly what Monica has done. This book shows the journey of how she was able to go from being fired to owning $5,000,000 in commercial real estate in 3 years. This book is written in a conversation type of style-like you're having a conversation with Monica and you will definetely get a sense of who she is because how she expresses her thoughts in this book is how she would express them if she sat down and spoke with you on the telephone. While reading this book I was amazed at the vast differences of investing in residential real estate and commercial real estate. I can now look for opportunties to invest in commercial real estate with the knowledge that I really need to know! --Eric Wedemyer, Civil Engineer

If you don't know what cash on cash return, Cap Rates, GRM's, IRR, and how financing effects these numbers then do yourself a favor and buy a copy of this book. As a real estate agent, I've purchased several real estate books, but I could have just brought this one instead and saved a lot of money. Written in familiar, everyday language, The Best Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written, is just that. It's full of nuts and bolts that every real estate investor can use from the beginner to the every day pro could use. It covers EVERYTHING the other books go over, AND it gives you FAR MORE DETAILS and far better explanations in which to base your next real estate decision. Reading this book, I've learned more in one night than I learned in an entire lifetime working in the real estate industry. --Derek Buress, Real Estate Agent

Monica is smart. In fact, Monica is so smart it's scary! Do yourself a favor and buy this book! --Thomas Duarte, Contractor

About the Author

Monica Villasenor's commercial real estate investing career began when she was fired from her job as a dental hygienist when she was five months pregnant. Monica realized that being fired was the kick in the butt she needed to pursue real estate investing on a full time basis. In three years Monica Villasenor has managed to acquire almost $5,000,000 of commercial real estate. Demonstrating the ultimate example of thinking creatively, Monica created the reality television program, "The Making of a Millionaire" which captures her journey of converting apartments to condominiums. She created the show as a strategy for obtaining support for a condo conversion project from the local city officials. Monica lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband, Mike and her sons, Camden and Connor.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: Villasenor Productions, LLC; 1st edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979364604
• ISBN-13: 978-0979364600
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm really just like everyone else. I grew up in a lower-middle class home as the youngest of three girls. I'm not quite sure what peaked my interest in real estate. There is nobody in my family involved in real estate whatsoever, but it's just in my blood.
Growing up, I never knew that one could make a living with real estate. As we were driving down the road in the car, it never occurred to me that I could be the one owning all those buildings that we passed by.

What I did know was that I wanted to make sure that I was always financially secure. Dentists make good money, but it took too long for schooling so I went to dental hygiene school instead. Once I graduated at 21 years old I bought my first house! It wasn't until seven years later when I was fired from my job as a dental hygienist when I was pregnant with my son that I considered real estate investing as a means of income. A life changing decision had to be made...dental hygiene or real estate? I chose real estate.

But why commercial real estate you may ask? It's really simple. It's all about the money. I had to replace my income fast and I couldn't replace it quick enough with residential real estate investing. So, I dove in, assuming everything would be the same, just working with larger numbers. Wow, was I wrong!

Excruciating and painful at times, all the mistakes I've made navigating through the commercial real estate investing world lead me to write The Best Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written! It is my hope to ease other real estate investors through the process.

Life is funny! You can never figure out where it will lead. I'm finally at a point where I've accepted the notion that while I can prepare,I can never predict what will happen next! I can't wait to see what it is!!!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If it were possible to rate '0' ~beware including seminars!, April 9, 2008

By 

S. "legallysuthernred" (CARSON CITY, NEVADA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The BEST Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written! (Hardcover)

This is my second posting as the first somehow 'magically' disappeared. I have even been in touch w/ the author as a gesture of good faith from someone working in the commercial real estate industry for years. She is now pushing her seminars and offered a discount on now-cancelled classes but declined to approach any practical lending discussions. She trashes several brokers in the book, provides little if any realistic advice nor categorizations of the types of financings, particularly insurance and pension fund lenders which are the most solid in the business. It may be she is collecting monies for investments in properties without a license to do so as solid lenders require 20-30% down sourcing and seasoning the down payments. (Gee, how did we get into a lending crisis for residential ~ sorry but that doesn't play w/ commercial but don't get me started...)

Spend your time elsewhere. The book covers deals that were not completed. It is almost entirely based on two or three transactions which were completed during the height of the R.E. Boom. Neither can one find her supposed television show. It further turns out her condo project is not yet completed though she treats it as a huge success in this book. (No condo financing is happening right now and has turned back to apartment/multi-family).

If you are an absolute novice, you may learn something in this self-published, agrandizing book. Otherwise, move on and search for the Robert A. Morse guide to commercial real estate investments (quicker read) or practically ANY other book on commercial investing. In all my years of commercial real estate I've never bumped into anyone who has made legitimate money starting from an 'expert' seminar. Stay away from those attempting to parlay a new speaking career particularly similar to this author who has little practical experience!

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Self Published Disaster, April 2, 2008

By 

jusplainjim "Jim" (Washington state USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The BEST Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written! (Hardcover)

I've never written an Amazon review before this one. This was such a waste of money that I had to warn others.

As I understand it, the author made money in Las Vegas on her residence, land and some single families, and then decided to get into commercial real estate. She bought a 57 unit property in Ohio and a 24 unit in California that she used for a condo conversion .

One reason I bought this book was for the It's All About The Numbers chapter. The best paragraph in this chapter suggests you read What Every Real Estate Investor Needs To Know About Cash Flow..... by Frank Gallinelli.

With the 57 unit purchase she notes that she didn't carefully read the mortgage documents before signing and so had a a four year lock out on her first mortgage with a second mortgage with a balloon payment due in three years.

Some quotes: "While I don't personally own any retail buildings, I was in contract to purchase one." I don't want to spend too much time discussing land development, as my experience is limited." "...[The property manager she employed] once hired a painting contractor to paint one of the vacant units, at a cost of $2000. I almost passed out! In Ohio, I can get the interior of a comparable sized unit painted for $500."

In the chapter on protecting your assets she talks about buying property in your own name and then deeding the property to a corporate entity after you close. Isn't this going to make the mortgage due in full?

Did I mention this book is self published?

No index.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not waste your time, April 30, 2008

By 

JC1 (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The BEST Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written! (Hardcover)

I have never written a review on Amazon yet but I feel pretty strongly about this. This book is a waste of time and money and that is the bottom line. This thing is a disaster from start to finish.

First off, a 3rd grader could write a book with fewer typos than this book has. It was utterly annoying everytime I ran across one........which happened numerous times per chapter and even per paragraph sometimes. How can someone release an informational book that is supposed to teach and guide people on a particular subject when the author comes across as a dummy who doesn't know how to write or even use spell check??

Secondly and most importantly was the quality of the actual content. It's rather poor. This book doesn't talk about commercial real estate. It talks mainly about the seemingly one deal the author has done which is this condo conversion that gets mentioned time and time again. It's more of a low quality biography of the authors 3 years of experience. I was hoping to get new ideas and different approaches to what I'm already practicing in the commercial real estate business myself. This didn't happen at all. I purchased this book based on the title "The Best Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written" which sounds like it may be good, but turned out to be a big mistake on my part because it simply is not even close to being the best. There is just so much more to commercial real estate, being in that field myself, than what is talked about in this book.

I could go on and on about what I didn't like about this book, but I hope this is enough to warn others that there are several other quality books available that will educate you properly on the subject of commercial real estate investing, unfortunately this book is not one of them.