26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exactly what an aspiring landlord will want to read!, June 1, 2009
This review is from: First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series) (Paperback)
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I've reviewed three Nolo books now and all three have done a wonderful job of translating complicated legal mumbo-jumbo into readable material regular folks can understand. They may not replace the advice of a lawyer in my opinion, but perhaps I'm just a wimp. I was a little apprehensive of a book publisher of this caliber teaming up with USA Today as I consider their newspaper the sort of thing people read when they don't want to learn anything. Still, in a strange way, the combination works rather well. Nolo provides the information and the pages are sprinkled with interesting factoids or Snapshot Pictures to keep the material from getting too dry and putting you to sleep. It makes the entire book reader-friendly while still providing a valuable source of info.
Here are the different chapters:
1. Is Owning Rental Property for You?
2. Landlording with Family or Friends
3. Preparing and Marketing Your Rental Property
4. Screening and Choosing Good Tenants
5. Preparing a Lease and Getting the Tenant Moved In
6. Manage Your Rental Income to Maximize Tax Deductions
7. Keeping Things Shipshape: Repairs and Maintenance
8. Landlord Liability for Injuries, Crimes, and More
9. Dealing with Difficult Tenants
10. Hiring a Property Manager
11. Exiting the Rental Property Business
Each chapter has subchapters with specific topics that are easily referenced via the table of contents if you are searching for something specific.
Like other Nolo books, First-Time Landlord provides a step-by-step guide to the process of purchasing an investment property from start to finish. UNLIKE other Nolo books, First-Time Landlord does not provide a reference guide containing the various laws in the 50 different states that will impact you. Instead, you will frequently get phrases like, "check state law", that tend to get annoying. Even worse, they often don't provide suggestions as to which state department or authority we should talk to. Those blue pages in the phone book get larger every year and it's difficult to play the runaround game with state workers when we don't know where to begin. It's a significant omission and I hope it's updated in future editions, but it's my only gripe. Otherwise, any potential landlord will want to read this book first and I'm still giving them five stars for the info and layout. Nice job, Nolo.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I am making money following it's advice!, July 3, 2010
This review is from: First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series) (Paperback)
I bought this book when starting a rental business. This book is eye-opening, really. I surprised my real estate agent. It gives many hands on details as well as resource for further learning. It is a small book so don't expect it to help you make million dollar decision, however, for a small rental business in initial stage, this is pretty much all you need. This book also helped me avoid a few costly mistakes. It is also very easy to read.
What can be a better compliment than simply saying: I read it and I am making money following it's advice!
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
good for starter information, but you may need more, September 4, 2009
This review is from: First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting out a Single-Family Home (USA Today/Nolo Series) (Paperback)
This easy-to-read book goes over the basics of renting out a single family home. Most of it is easy to understand and reading the book will provide one with a good base of information.
I was disappointed that this book didn't mention anything specifically related to renting out a part of owner-occupied property and how that situation might be similar to or different from renting out an entire house. Also, the discussion on depreciation of investments and what impact that will have at the time of sale was not well explained.
This is a good book to read for some initial information, but you'll probably need to consult other sources as well.
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