Recommended Reading
I am an avid reader of good books about investing, real estate, entrepreneurs, and business. Below are some good books that I have read and highly recommend. I have included links to Amazon.com below. If you do decide to buy the book through Amazon.com, please click on the ad and it will direct you to Amazon.com to purchase it. I will get a 4% commission for the referral. It does not add any charge to your purchase and helps pay for hosting my website. Even if you decide not to purchase these books, I still recommend borrowing them from your local library and reading.
This is a great book that provides a truthful long term view to investing in real estate. It emphasizes hard work, studying, and living below your means to becoming successful in real estate. It has a cheesy title, but the content is very good. Check out my full post on The Millionaire Real Estate Investor.
This book is a “must have” for any new landlord. It provides information in layman terms on common landlord laws by state. It also contains several contracts, disclosures, and forms used in leasing properties. This book is well worth the money.
If you are looking for a book that gives you answers to common tax questions for real estate investors, then this a good read. It won’t replace your CPA, but it will describe in layman’s terms common tax principles so that you can be aware of how they affect your business decisions. Topics include depreciation, interest, operating expenses, Schedule E, loss deduction limits.
This is the book that Warren Buffet credits with changing his investing career. The book was written by Mr. Buffett’s mentor, Ben Graham. Buffett specifically recommends investors read Chapters 8 and 20. Chapter 8 compares the stock market to a manic depressive business partner that offers to buy or sell a piece of the partnership each day based upon his daily mood. When he is optimistic he bids the price up high and when he is pessimistic he bids the price extremely low. Your job is to simply buy businesses when he is offering them below their true worth. Chapter 20 talks about margin of safety. This is the idea of buying dollar bills for 50 cents. If you think something is worth $1 then only buy it when it selling at a steep discount to your calculation so that even if your calculation is a little off you won’t lose money.