Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is excellent, it covers most of the basics for first-time investors (and I expect that it is a great reference for the follow-on transactions). The section on valuation was particlarly useful. I also liked the idea of writing down an investment plan and checking your progress/udating it yearly. This will help keep you on track to achieve your goals.

I accidently left my copy on an airplane last weekend and am replacing it today. With information from this book, I hope to make an offer on my first investment property next week. However, one book is not enough. I suggest readers check out several other titles including "Real Estate Investing From A to Z" by W. H. Pivar and "Rental Houses for the Successful Small Investor" by S.P. Thomas.

Although this book was very well organized and clearly written, it lacks depth and detail... almost as if many things were "left out" for one reason or another. I moved on to my next title
"Investing in Real Estate" 3rd edition, and I'm only on chapter 3 and have already gotten more out of it than I received from "The Unofficial Guide". If your looking for a great book on the subject, I would suggest you forego this title and go for the "Investing in Real Estate" 3rd edition instead.

Stone & Strauss have laid out a very well organized and easy to read masterpiece on real estate investing. The book focuses on an important aspect that most others miss- PLANNING for success by strategizing a step-by-step long term process instead of focusing on the unrealistic yet prevalent "get rich quick" strategy that so many of the other books try to lure you in with.

The chapters are well organized with real world case studies and great anecdotal information that go into great technical depth without taxing your comprehension in the process. Among the 16 valuable chapters is one dedicated to assisting the reader in building a long term investment plan that is tailored specifically to their needs.

I gotta go now,...there are quite a few 4-plexes out there to conquer.

This book is not entertaining. It doesn't have a catchy title. There aren't get rich quick schemes. You won't find a way to buy houses with no money down. You won't find a way to make money without lifting a finger. If you want a book lie that, read "rich dad, poor dad." However, that book will leave you frustrated because of it's endless babble about how some other guy got rich. It's basically a long pep talk.

In contrast, the Unofficial Guide gives you a realistic example of how and why this type of investing works. It goes into a great deal of detail about the benefits and drawbacks. It gives a pretty picture of the real estate business in an understandable manner and shows several different ways that profits can be made. It seems to be slightly geared towards investors who are interested in rental housing - especially buildings with 4+ units - but there is still more than enough information to justify any investor's purchase. Experienced investors would be helped if they aren't seeing very good profits or if they just want to renew their education and get some helpful points.

The only drawbacks to this book would be the way taxes are presented. There are several points that are a spread out over several chapters and I was left a little confused. It would've been a little better to do a full discussion of taxes from a very basic level in one of the first chapters, then reference that chapter throughout the book. Without a doubt, I still gained a better understanding than I had before, but it could've been done a little better...

This book takes basic, sometimes sketchy, information on real estate investing and packages it into a thick tome that is as unsubstantial as cotton candy. The margins consume about a quarter of the space on each page for silly little "tips" like, "Keep detailed records of each expense related to your property." Turns out they come in handy at tax time. Duh.

The text is light on brass tacks and long on windy prose. And it talks down to the reader. Here's an actual "Moneysaver" tip: "Negative cash flow exists when you payments are greater than your income." Really. It goes on to suggest avoiding a loss by making sure your rents are "at least at market rate." Golly, that IS a money saving tip! If you just fell off a turnip truck. Question: If you don't know this kind of basic information, will you know what "market rate" means?

No amount of cutesy fluff will change the fact that buying property and renting it to people you barely know is a gritty, scary, no-nonsense business. The would-be investor needs real info and to pretend otherwise is a disservice. At one point, the book warns about IRS penalties for not using "approved methods" for determining the depreciation cost basis of improvements (versus non-depreciable land), a longstanding mystery for me (and the IRS, too, based on the vague guidance they offer). Despite the stern warning, the book moves on without offering a single suggestion as to what might be deemed an acceptable method! The book is filled with this kind of uninformative fluff. If most of this book doesn't insult your intelligence, you should not invest in rental property (or try to dress yourself).

Despite its suggestive title, this book reveals no big secrets. Pssst, here's a real secret: buy a different book on real estate investing.

I was a little skeptical about a real estate book in a series whose cornerstone is "The Unofficial Guide to Disney World." But it turned out to be the best of the half a dozen or so carefully selected books on real estate investment that I bought. It is very down-to-earth and doesn't push get rich quick schemes. More like get financially secure in 20 years. Another reviewer mentionned McLean & Elred's "Investing in Real Estate" as being a much better book. Actually, that would be number 2 on my list--it's excellent. But I like the UG book a little better. Read both. One thing I really liked in the UG book were all the worked numeric and financial examples. I pulled out my Hewlett Packard financial calculator and went crazy. But unfortunately, some of the numbers seem to be incorrect, or at least "aggressively rounded." The example in the appendix is really screwed up. The bright side is that all the time spent convincing myself that the book was wrong and not me resulted in helping me to gain more confidence in crunching these numbers. (An email to the authors about the typos and mistakes went unresponded to. I note that a new edition is scheduled for August 2003, indicating either this book's popularity ... or the need for corrections.) There are other mistakes that can only be explained by last minute rogue search-and-replaces, such as a three digit number that replaces several letters of certain words.

"The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" is by far the best book on real estate investing I've ever read! And, I've read them all! I have been actively investing in the stock market for years but always felt intimidated by real estate investments. That is until I found this gem of a book. It not only helps to clarify financial goals, but also provides very specific guidelines for acheiving those goals. Best of all, since applying what I have learned from the book, I have found their 40% return extremely conservative. I expect more than double that this year!

I have been a Real Estate Investor for several years - but never knew (or thought of) 90% of the things in this book. I wish I would have read it before I bought my first building. It is awesome for the person who knows nothing - but would like to learn. It is more than just an introductory book - it is a constant reference manual.

Since buying the book( 3 weeks ago), I have purchased a great property & just signed an agreement to sell a different one.

Check out the table of contents & you will see that it is very thorough. The ONLY negative thing about this book is that the publishers have made several typo's - none that I have noticed that changed a meaning or direction - just simple typos.

Buy it & then get ready to want to read it from cover to cover without putting it down.

I am a recent college graduate who found myself not making much money and worrying about my future, until I was given The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing as a gift. Martin Stone and Spencer Strauss have cut through all the red tape and put my fears of investing, to rest. The book is easy to read and easy to understand. They answered most of my questions in the book, but even more, responded to some bigger questions via e-mail. Anyone who doesnt have this book, and is looking to live a little bit easier life, needs to run out and get it right now.

This 368 pages book, not counting 63 pages of Appendices, is a very comprehensive book worthy of reading. It is purposely written in easy to follow language and there is even a glossary of those terms that with which the reader might be unfamiliar. In general I'm not a big fan of glossaries as it seems that many authors use the glossary as filler for the book. That is not the case here. In the margins are helpful tips, watch outs and money saver tips. This is a good beginner or intermediate text, but experienced real estate investors will find this to be too elementary reading. The text is comprehensive and can be used for further reference, as it does have an index. The price is also right for this book at retail of $16.99 and is well worth the money spent. At $11.89 on AMAZON.COM its a great bargain. Besides the purchase of real estate, which many other books cover this book also gets into being a landlord, how to fix and upgrade a property and even whether you should rent to pet owners. They say yes! They recommend charhing extar security and extra rent to qualified pet owning tenants. I would recommend that anyone contemplating real estate investing either as a part time avocation or a full time career to start with this book. This is not the only book you'll want or need to read, but its a good first step. this book doesn't have everything that you'll need but will start you on the right road.