A real estate education is invaluable. Any successful real estate investor will tell you this.
A lot of this education naturally comes from the real-life experience of buying, managing, and selling investment properties. But if you were to start there, you’d make tons of real estate investing mistakes and fall flat on your face. Does this mean you should put thousands of dollars into a formal real estate education? It could, but it definitely doesn’t have to. Why not pick up a few real estate investment books and start there?
Of course, if you look online or head over to your local bookstore, you’re likely to be overwhelmed by how many real estate investment books there actually are. Some real estate investment books will entice you with “get rich quick schemes” or “never work a day in your life” by investing in property. These real estate investment books are no good: neither for a beginner real estate investor nor for an investor looking to improve.
Instead, here is a list of the best real estate investment books to read. Each book on this list will offer you applicable and actionable real estate investment advice and strategies for how to get started in real estate, how to make money in real estate, and much more.
Long-Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene
This is one of those real estate investment books you might pass over upon first glance. Long-distance real estate investing? Most beginner real estate investors ignore this aspect of the business. In reality, it’s extremely important to learn early on just how to invest in out-of-state rental properties. You can’t stick to your local real estate market forever when other markets may be offering cheaper investment properties with a better return on investment.
This book will teach beginner real estate investors some of the most important aspects of investing in out-of-state rental properties such as:
- Finding and creating profitable deals on out-of-state investment properties
- Buying, rehabbing, and managing out-of-state rental properties
- Hiring a team and maintaining a good relationship with them
With a successful track record of buying and rehabbing twenty rental properties, the author also passes on wisdom on how to manage a long-distance, cost-effective rehab.
Along with investing in property out-of-state, this book offers some basics of the trade including:
- Neighborhood analysis
- Real estate market analysis
- Dealing with real estate professionals and hiring a team
- The process of buying investment property
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The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner
As the title suggests, this book focuses on buy and hold real estate investing. If you’re looking for real estate investment books on how to make money in real estate, this would be it. It also takes a close look at how other real estate investors have failed, so as to help you avoid these fatal mistakes. Some of the real estate investment advice offered revolves around:
- Landing great deals on investment properties in competitive real estate markets
- Realistic approaches to financing rental properties, even with little capital
- Creating cash flow, wealth, and passive income with rental properties
- Managing rental properties successfully, all the while avoiding the hassles of being a landlord
- Increasing cash flow and wealth through tax deductions
Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump and Tony Schwartz
One thing everyone can agree on is that Donald Trump is a real estate mogul. What better way to learn about investing in property than to look into the mind of one of the most successful real estate investors out there?! Very few real estate investment books will offer you the same guidelines for achieving Trump’s level of success.
The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller
The title alone is enticing because that’s what we all want: to learn how to make money in real estate and become a millionaire. With advice from over 100 millionaire real estate investors, you can learn just how to make money in real estate. This is not one of these real estate investment books that promises you’ll become a rich and successful real estate investor in no time at all. Rather, it focuses on two key traits of successful real estate investors: patience and perseverance. In this book, you’ll find:
- The truth about real estate investing myths
- How to recognize the best real estate investing opportunities
- How to land the best deals on investment properties
- Ways to form the best team
- Proven strategies that successful real estate investors use to manage their finances and net worth, build a real estate investment network, generate leads for investment properties, and how to buy them
The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down by Brandon Turner
Ever heard of creative real estate investing? With this book, beginner real estate investors will learn about leveraging the money of other people for buying investment property. This is the essence of creative real estate investing.
However, this book doesn’t portray creative real estate investing in an ideal light, as other real estate investment books might. Instead, it talks about the reality of techniques for how to invest in real estate with no money. Learn about the “ugly side” of creative real estate investing and how to deal with it. Other aspects the book touches upon are:
- Wholesaling real estate
- Fix and flip investment strategy
- Creative real estate investing with rental properties
How to Be a Real Estate Investor by Phil Pustejovsky
Another of the real estate investment books that will teach you how to make money in real estate, this one has the added benefit of the author being an experienced and trusted real estate coach. He draws from real-life examples and experience to show you how to be a real estate investor and how to make money in real estate.
Because of his experience, he is able to show how seminars and other real estate investment books make real estate investing seem simple and easy, which leads beginners to failure. The author provides a realistic approach to investing in property.
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This book will teach you all about the following:
- Creative real estate investing
- Advice and tips for short sale and REO investors
- How to qualify with top mortgage lenders as a short sale investor
- Buying investment property traditionally
- How to prosper in a competitive real estate market
Building Wealth One House at a Time, Updated and Expanded, Second Edition by John W. Schaub
With a tangible 9-step program, the author shows how anyone can acquire million dollar assets, build wealth, and not deal with a ton of debt from investing in property. This program focuses on the best ways to find investment properties and finance them. You’ll gain insight on:
- Financing investment properties without a bank
- Recognizing and taking advantage of the cycles in a real estate market
- How to improve your negotiation skills for selling and buying investment property
- Avoiding common pitfalls and traps of investing in property
- Creating cash flow for retirement
The Book on Flipping Houses by J Scott
Fixing and flipping rental properties is no easy task, as reality shows and other real estate investment books might lead you to believe. This book, however, will show you how to create and manage a business built on flipping houses in any real estate market. Some of the topics included are:
- Real estate market analysis
- What types of investment properties to choose for flipping and where you can find them
- Finding, evaluating, and making competitive offers for deals from motivated sellers
- Financing investment property with no cash and bad credit
- Performing due diligence
- Budgeting and scheduling a fix and flip
- How to hire and work with the best contractors
- The process of flipping
Trump Strategies for Real Estate: Billionaire Lessons for the Small Investor by George Ross, Andrew James McLean, and Donald J. Trump
This is the second of our best real estate investment books to provide an inside look into the real estate investment strategies used by Donald Trump. This time, it’s provided by one of his top advisors who has been involved in the US President’s biggest deals. This book shows small-time and beginner real estate investors how – they too – can apply the strategies of a real estate mogul. Learn:
- How to find investment properties
- The ways Trump finances, negotiates, and markets investment properties
- How to invest in property, even without a reputation like Trump’s
The ABCs of Real Estate Investing: The Secrets of Finding Hidden Profits Most Investors Miss (Rich Dad’s Advisors) by Ken McElroy
The last of our top real estate investment books to read this year will show beginner real estate investors how to view and deal with real estate investing as a full-time business. The real estate investment advice you’ll find here is related to the following:
- Investment property evaluation
- Negotiating deals by using the numbers
- How to make money in real estate and create cash flow
- Busting real estate myths
- How to take advantage of property management tools to build wealth
Choosing from any of our 10 best real estate books will teach you not only how to get started in real estate, but also how to succeed and create substantial wealth in doing so.
We know that not everyone is a fan of sitting down and reading real estate investment books. Want another way to consume as much real estate knowledge as you can? Then continue reading our blog. To sign up for Mashvisor to receive our blogs and offers, click here.