The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings [Paperback]

Steve Berges (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 20, 2004

Whether you?re a first-time real estate investor or a seasoned professional, The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings helps you map out your future, find apartment buildings at a fair price, finance purchases, and manage your properties. Now revised and expanded, this Second Edition includes tax planning advice, case studies of real acquisitions, and appendixes that add detail to the big picture. Plus, it includes a handy glossary of all the terms investors need to know, helpful sample forms that make paperwork quick and easy, and updated real estate forecasts. With this comprehensive guide at hand you?ll find profits easy to come by.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A revised and expanded edition of the bestselling guide to investing in apartment buildings

Investing in real estate is a tried-and-true way to build assets, increase income, and prepare for retirement or the expense of college. With the proper guidance, a well-defined plan, and a little capital, anyone can profit by buying and selling rental properties.

Whether you're a first-time investor or a seasoned professional, this straightforward guide helps you map out your future, find apartment buildings at a fair price, finance purchases, and manage your properties. If you're an active real estate investor focused on single-family properties, Steve Berges's step-by-step plan shows you how to make the jump to multifamily units.

The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings includes tax planning advice, case studies of real acquisitions, and appendixes that add detail to the big picture. This new Second Edition also includes a handy glossary of all the terms investors need to know, helpful sample forms that make paperwork quick and easy, and updated real estate market forecasts. Inside you'll find:

• Ten ways to create value
• Six ways to locate multifamily properties
• Five key ratios every investor should know
• Two crucial techniques that will help any investor save thousands
• Three ways to determine how much a piece of property is really worth
• Five cardinal rules of successful negotiations
• Six reasons sellers sell their property
• Four effective exit strategies
• Five keys to your success
• And much more

About the Author

STEVE BERGES is a real estate investment professional with over twenty-five years of experience. As principal of Symphony Homes, he is an active investor specializing in creating value through various real estate mechanisms, including single-family houses, multifamily apartment complexes, and the development and construction of single-family and condominium housing communities. He holds an MBA in finance and marketing from Rice University. His other books include The Complete Guide to Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties and The Complete Guide to Flipping Properties, both from Wiley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (December 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471684058
• ISBN-13: 978-0471684053
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Business & Investing > Real Estate > Buying & Selling Homes

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

137 of 146 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Basics, October 30, 2002

By 

"misfit47" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings (Paperback)

This book is an easy read, but those who considered it the "best" real estate book out there may have been rotting their brains on no money down schemes (this book thankfully notes that beginning investors will not find a no money down investment property deal).

If you are looking for Real Estate Investing 101, this is a good choice.

If you already understand Cap Rates and NOI, and are confident in your ability to estimate the value of a property based on its financial statement, then pass on this book.

All in all, the book is good but basic. Unfortunate that the tables presented in the text are not explained fully--the author prefers, I think, to sell you the software separately.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 stars for another good book by Steve Berges, August 17, 2006

By 

Larry B. Loftis "Author: Investing in Duplex... - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings (Paperback)

As a real estate investor and author myself, I read a lot of real estate books. Many, if not most, are written by folks who do not invest in real estate themselves; they only write about it. Berges is not one of them. He knows his stuff and it's clear that he practices what he preaches. I have read three of his books and, I must say, he's one of my favorite real estate authors. You can trust what he says. Experienced investors may want a bit more detail from Steve, but what he does say is accurate and safe. This is a good book on buying apartments. In fact, in my own book, "Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes & Quads," I list the best books I've read on different areas of real estate. This book is the ONLY book I recommend on investing in commercial multifamily (ie, apartments of 5 units and up) properties.

Having given those accolades, here are a few of my constructive criticisms:

1. On pages 37 and 38, Steve gives nice charts illustrating the long-term financial benefits of investing in multifamily properties. On page 39, however, there is an error in referring to the big numbers shown. The reference is made to Investor A's "equity" of $2.1 million and Investor B's (the multifamily property investor) equity of $92 million. I just don't think Steve caught this, but those numbers don't refer to the investor's equity, but to the fair market value of his collective assets (his properties). The investor's equity might be in the range of 20% of that. I do like the charts, however, and I used a similar analysis in my recent book. One other note on the charts - they presume selling and buying exactly at the end of one year - a difficult task as Steve would surely admit. On average, I think 18 months to two years is a better time frame for flipping apartments.

2. Refinancing - Steve didn't give a chart showing the long-range effect of the "buy, hold and refy" strategy (using proceeds to buy again, but retaining the first property). In addition, Steve only mentioned the general banking guideline that you can only pull out cash up to 80% of the new appraised value (i.e., the bank has an LTV of 80%). However, you can get around this. I've done it. It requires a second lender giving a second mortgage, with a CLTV (combined loan to value) of up to 90%. As such, you can pull out much more cash.

3. GRM - gross rent multiplier. In his financial analysis section, Steve doesn't give much detail or provide real life examples on this crucial analysis factor. Granted, the cap rate is the analysis primarily used for commercial real estate, while the GRM is the one used for residential multifamily (2-4 units) real estate. Since many owners and selling brokers will "fudge" on expenses, a cap rate can be very hard to verify. The GRM, however, is fairly simple - just look at the lease agreements.

4. Lack of coverage on residential multifamily apartments. In fact, this is why I wrote my book on this topic. If Steve had covered it here, I would not have written mine. I like Steve's writing style and he knows his stuff. But for investing in small multifamily properties (certainly on residential, but probably up to about 10 units), we really have to cover valuation and selection of properties using the GRM. That and I felt like the "buy, hold, and refy" strategy needed much more coverage.

But for investing in commercial multifamily properties, I recommend this book as the only good one on the market.

Larry Loftis
Author: Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes and Quads: The Fastest and Safest Way to Real Estate Wealth

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST BOOK ON THE SUBJECT THAT I HAVE READ, January 3, 2003

By 

Gina Hinds - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings (Paperback)

I have read allot of real estate books, as I am involved in this industry, but there are not many books that go into the apartment building side like Steve Berges has done.

This is an excellent book, if you are just getting involved in multi-units, as well as the experienced professional...there is information here that is beneficial to everyone involved in real estate.