Customer Reviews

Insider Secrets to Financing Your Real Estate Investments: What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Finding and Financing Your Next Deal

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No fluff or filler, this book tells you what you really need to know in concise and certain terms. It's a refreshing break from all the "No Money Down" motivational seminars in book form. This is the real stuff... highly recommended. After reading the first few pages, I got back online and bought his Cash Flow book.

This is much better than his cash flow book. Really provides insight about the borrowing process and what lenders expect. Great for understanding the terms. Covers Loan to value, Debt Coverage ratio, Different types of lenders and uses. He compares zero down deals, all cash deals, and the mix of both and points out the real deal of all the scenarios. Also gives good instruction on how to be prepared when going to a lender.

This book is not motivational type at all. Just facts and info about what I mentioned above. It made a lot of things very clear to me. A must read if you are not familiar with the loan process and terms.

I read this book as a follow up to Frank's other book, "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow".

Overall, I found the book to be an excellent summary of analytical ways to evaluate your alternative investments in real estate.

The book contains numerous tables, reference charts and tools that one can use in analyzing investments.

Frank has a unique [i.e., simple) way of taking the reader through an analysis or example of what otherwise would be a complicated discussion.

Again, all in all, a great book. I refer to it frequently. Highly recommend it.

Buy this book and the "What every real estate investor needs to know about CASH FLOOW" by the same author, you are well armed in the field of commercial real estate. Both books are easy to read and you will learn a wealth of practical information that can be put to use immidiately. I don't normally write comment for books I purchased, but these two books are special. It is my way to say thanks to the author.

I decided to read this book after reading What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know about Cash Flow by the same author. His books are fabulous. Not enough real estate investors read them. In addition, industry professionals such as brokers, appraisers, and lenders would benefit by reading it. I think the information in this book is extremely important because financing arrangements can make or break the returns for the property. Not many investors may realize this, but debt service is the biggest expense item. If you get this one right, you have a chance to reap some benefits of owning properties. If you are a real estate investor and do not understand what loan-to-value and debt coverage ratio are, then this book is for you.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

I already have real estate investments and I was looking for books on the 'next step' for my financing needs. This was not it. I give it credit for being a good 'nuts and bolts' book. It is NOT one of those 'you can do what I did' fluff books. The title is 'Inside Secrets'. I would re-title it 'Critical Fundamentals'. It's great information, but I don't recommend it if you already have your feet wet in real estate investing.

Having read all three of Gallinelli's books, I can confidently say that Insider Secrets is the best of them. All three need to be read in order to form a comprehensive understanding of real estate investment. I recommend that every beginning investor in real estate read this book first, and then proceed to read Gallinelli's What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures and then read his excellent Mastering Real Estate Investment: Examples, Metrics And Case Studies for further enforcement of the basics.

Read in this order, budding real estate moguls can get a clear sense as to how to go about investing in real estate in a sound, safe and successful manner. In brief, Insider Secrets delves more into the mechanics of finding a good real estate investment, and most important, once you have found it, how to structure it so that you succeed when you pitch the deal to potential lenders (and over time, equity investors). Gallinelli's cash flow book introduced the key metrics, while his book, Mastering Real Estate Investment: Examples, Metrics And Case Studies adequately demonstrates how to use the key metrics to determine if a real estate investment is a diamond (very likely in the rough) or a dud. Personally, I regard the latter book as more of a modeling tool, while the other two books serve to simultaneously demystify real estate investment and remove a lot of the hype surrounding investment in income generating properties.

This particular book earns my respect for two very important reasons. First, Gallinelli is consistently upfront with the reader, and imparts a lot of useful and extremely important knowledge (as with the other two books) in a very casual, laid-back fashion. Second, Gallinelli passes on some very sound advice for ultimate success, particularly with regard to the need for specialization ( in terms of property type and geographical location) and also firmly against attempts at 'creative' financing arrangements. About the only demerit that I can see with this text is that it does not cover the full life cycle of the real estate investment in that it does not address the key topics of holding an investment property or its disposition. Perhaps Gallinelli can address these topics in a follow-on book.

I agree with other reviewers that this book, along with his other books, just are not suitable to those more experienced in or are a bit further along with real estate investment. Still, those more experienced with real estate investment may want to read this book just so they can recommend a good book to inquiring beginners.

This book is intended for the beginner, and as such, it is an excellent resource. This book would also be a good read for most real estate agents who even just occasionally work with investors. If you have advanced knowledge of the subject, this is not the book for you. He covers the basic principals every real estate investor must know. He offers experienced advice in many specific areas. The book is not mathematically driven, it is more about the theory of investing. However, he does cover many of the metrics generally used for an analysis, along with much of the theory behind them. The book really reads quite easily. All the material is explained in plain English complete with easy to follow examples. If you're new to this field, get this book and his other one listed below.

The author has another book which I would also recommend to someone starting out What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know about Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial MeasuresThe two books together cover a lot of ground. This author also sells excel based analysis software on his website, it is inexpensive and works great.

If you are new, this book might offer more insights, but for the experienced investor there was very content to justify buying it. The only gem I took away from this was preparing a presentation binder on a property for a bank when seeking financing.