Real-rate-of-return Books

A very thorough primer into realestate tax lien investing - which states have them, which only have tax DEED auctions, etc. I did find it a little verbose sometimes, but that was more than positively offset by the lack of hype and absence of the typical dozen pages of "convincing market data" that so many investment tomes are guilty of. What I found most valuable is the various charts which layout different states maximum payouts, types of investments offered, etc. You don't have to struggle to find anything.

Tax lien investing is interesting. They are touted as a surefire winning ivestments and many "experts" offer training costing thousands of dollars to "train" you on how to invest in these "goldmines". Do yourself a favor, buy this book and avoid the seminars. You are going to learn by experience and this book will help you get started. The seminars are simply going to part you and your money. Tax liens are not as easy as they sound. You cannot simply go down to the courthouse and buy a 25% lien. Most people trying to get you into this game neglect to mention the fact that large companies will flood the market with lowball offers to obtain a majority of the better tax liens.

Tax lien and tax deed investing are complicated subjects, made even more complicated by the huge variations in laws from state to state. This book explains the different details with great clarity.

The book opens with general chapters that explain why the differences between tax liens and tax deeds, the things an investor must consider when planning such an investment, and guidelines that will help make the process more comfortable. For example, even an experienced investor may have little experience with auctions, which is the method most governments use to sell tax liens and deeds - "The Complete Guide" has tips on what to bring and do in those situations.

Also in the early chapters, Burrell uses real world examples to help explain points - showing, for example, the forms used to register for an auction in Los Angeles. Later, Burrell discusses subjects like foreclosing (the painful part for those of us without thick skin) and getting financing for a tax lien or tax deed investment.

However, the key parts of the book are the tables (I think there are about 20); Chapter 12, which has a comprehensive breakdown of the different state laws; and the exceptionally comprehensive, 60-page (you read that right!) glossary.

The Complete Guide to Investing in Real Estate Tax Liens & Deeds: How to Earn High Rates of Return - Safely
"By far the most through and comprensive of any book I have found anywhere on this subject of Investing in Tax Liens"! Has enabled me to make a considerable amount over the past few months with very little effort.

From reading the cover you might think this is another get rich quick idea. After reading the book, however, you'll find a hype-free matter of fact approach. All the benefits and pitfalls (at least that I could think of) are covered. I went to a seminar where someone pitched an expensive package of services to help someone who wanted to invest in tax lien certificates. Instead I bought this book. It will answer your questions and help you decide if you want to proceed. What the book does not include are all the little details you'll need to actually execute a purchase. This varies a lot by state and would require the book to double in size. So, if you just want to know about these investments, I recommend this book. If you are ready to invest, you'll need more information.

Rarely does a real estate book get into the business and financial evaluation of real estate. Instead they talk about techniques at best or imposible to believe real estate "war stories" at worst. This a great primer for properly understanding cash flow and rate of return...the true bottom line.

I have encountered may property owners who are actually losing money by focusing on the wrong metrics or no metrics at all. They think they are making money, while actually lowering their long term net worth. The author does try to pitch his programs to readers and visitors to his website, but the book does a good enough job explaining how to do your own calculations.

The first part of the book builds up your understanding of financial concepts from the basics to the advanced. The second part is more a reference index to each concept or measure described in the first section with examples and commentary.

Why did I not come across this wealth of information before? Anyway, this is an indispensable aid to any RE numbers cruncher, do the maths, due diligence...whatever. When is the latest edition to the other book coming out? Can't wait.

For everyone even THINKING about RE investment - from an agent's perspective to that of the investor, it is required reading. I've been back to it 20 times and 99% of the time, the answer I was looking for was there.

In all my years of using financial analysis tools, teaching them to audiences all across the country, and educating students at my top-ranked College of Commerce, I've never encountered anything as clear and well written as Frank Gallineli's book. "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow...and 36 Other Key Financial Measures" is, I promise you, an absolutely painless and positively interesting way to learn these important concepts. This slim volume manages to bridge the gap between sophisticated investors with a need to brush up on some financial tools, to complete novices with no finance or business background. All readers will find the book useful, straightforward, and full of helpful explanations that are thorough but never condescending. If you are a student in one of the finance fields, you need this book to keep on your desk from now through graduation and beyond. Anyone else, whether broker, investor, loan officer or business person, should also keep this book near at hand for easy reference. Because of the very modest price, I recommend you buy two copies--one to keep, and one to re-sell to the person who will inevitably want to "borrow" your copy and never return it.

O. William Evans, J.D.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Alabama Center for Real Estate
The University of Alabama
127 Bidgood Hall
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487

This book is an essential for anyone new, or seasoned, in real estate. You won't find a better summation of how to cast you due dillegence net around any real estate you might want to buy. The style is easy to comprehend, just try reading up on internal rates of return in most of those other books out there! This book is a keeper for doing the numbers in real estate.

The Complete Guide to REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) by Mark Gordan is a book aimed at someone with at least foundational knowledge of Real Estate Investment Trust. The writing, especially the dependence on investment terminology, would deter a novice investor and potentially lead to more confusion. However, for someone with a little working knowledge of investment, the author does a very frank and effective job of measuring risks, rewards, and options in the REIT market.

Mr. Gordon does not make pie-in-the-sky promises. He reviews the ups and downs of REITs historically, provides case studies, and offers potential investors measures by which to consider which REIT is best considering individual portfolio goals. I would have liked to see his quotes/sources footnoted for those wishing to do more research, however. Overall Score: 4 stars.

Since 1960 individual investors have pooled their money together to purchase REITs (real estate investment trusts); a stable investment tool that combines the risk of real-estate ownership and the tidiness of trusts. In the United States there are three types of REITs, equity, mortgage, and hybrid and unlike other investments the company must return at least 90% of its annual taxable income to shareholders through dividends. Often this return competes with, and can even outperform stocks, mutual funds, and bonds.
Many in the investment community view the inherent risk involved in REITs as significantly less than many other investments and the returns are predictable over both the long and the short term. And the buy-and-hold strategy tends to work well with a blue-chip portfolio of REITs.
This book's goal is to help the REIT investor outperform the market by teaching the principles unique to this type of investment. There are detailed explanations concerning what to do before entering this market. While there are risks in any investment a majority of the industry's observers agree that REITs, both as a sector and as individual companies, will grown significantly over the next ten years.
An encyclopedic glossary is included to help those interested in investing in REITs. This is an excellent book.

I found this book to be highly enlightening and very informational on the specific niche of Real Estate Trusts. I loved how the author included the history of Real Estate Investor Trusts so that the reader could see more than simply the here and now on the subject. The author had a wonderful tone of voice that would captivate not just the avid real estate followers but the novice followers as well.

I felt the author thoroughly broke down the topic and made it enjoyable and easy to follow for anyone no matter what their previous experience was. I was touched that a portion of the proceeds of this book in honor of "Bear" (their family pet) go to the United States Humane Society. I highly recommend this 288 page book to not just seasoned real estate investors but to anyone who even remotely is considering dabbling in the real estate investing venture.

I particularly liked this book because a lot of it is broken down into bullets, which are easy to understand and explain different terms or important points throughout. The Complete Guide to Investing in REITs gives many examples of different types of REITs, such as retail, industrial and residential. Chapters 6-13 explain in detail the different kinds of REITs and follow up with case studies. The studies presented in the book really make it more interesting than a book that simply lays out the basic information. This really does an excellent job of driving important points home.

For a single person looking to break into the REIT industry, chapter 15 is very helpful in explaining exactly how to begin. The following chapters will answer any questions that may arise about losing money, potential risks and trends.

Real Estate Investment Trusts come in all shapes and sizes. There are more then 200 REITs in the US with more then $450 billion in assets. Three main types of trusts include Equity REITs which can include assets from apartments, office buildings and malls to local zoos; mortgage REITs which act as holding companies for mortgage portfolios and a hybrid REIT which combines the other two types of investments.

The Complete Guide to REITs also provides a detailed analysis of the risk and rewards associated with investments and explanations of confusing investment terminology. Chapters 4 & 5 include a detailed history of REITs in the United States and provide the reader with an accurate description of the life cycle of investments.

Good book with very precise instructions to evaluate a real estate investment property. And to estimate a potential growth of a real estate property.

This book addresses the 4 yields or "tributaries" to the Income Stream: Cash yield, tax shelter yield, equity build-up yield, and appreciation yield. After explaining and discussing each of these yields in depth, the author combines them into one figure: Internal Rate of Return (IRR). This is the magic number that all investors must look at before making any investment decisions. The problem is, without looking at the 4 yields that comprise IRR, you will never find it.

There are 3 important worksheets that are provided and used to gather all of the data needed to derive the 4 yields: Annual Property Operating Data (APOD), Cash Flow Analysis Worksheet (CFAW), and Alternative Cash Sales Worksheet (ACSW). Goodman explains all of the sheets and how to use them.

This is the science of evaluating real estate with hard data. Once the data is gathered, you can make the most informed decision possible. It also leaves no room for surprises: if an investment isn't good, it will be very apparent. The math used is relatively simple, so anyone can comprehend this treatment of the topic.

The techniques can't be argued with. I wonder how many real estate investors actually do this kind of analysis. I know it's the ONLY way I would invest in real estate: real analysis, real answers.

Goodman's secret to having an income stream is to write flimsy, useless books. After 38 years in the industry you would think he would spend more than an afternoon rehashing common knowledge.

Large print, double spaced lines with common sense advice that you would know without reading the book left me angry.

Don't believe what Ryan Rayner and Rachel Quin wrote in Nov. 2002. They are the same person and the only reviewers to rank the book one star. (Funny how they wrote exactly the same things on the same day, huh? I wish Amazon would make a better effort to catch these kinds of frauds before posting them.) And check out the other reviews Rachel Quin has done: Star Wars games and a book on Java programming. Hardly the views of a Real Estate Professional. They can "go sell crazy someplace else."

Yes, The Income Stream is a thin book. Yes, the type is large. But it's what it SAYS that's important. This is a book about real estate ACCOUNTING, a complex subject. It's not a "no money down" or "get rich quick" guide.

The main purpose of the book to show you how to use the forms used by Certificated Commercial Investment Members (CCIM) of the National Assn. of Realtors. The CCIM designation is the "doctorate" degree of investment real estate. One of the most important values they compute on an investment is the Internal Rate of Return. IRR is the only variable that gives you an easy-to-use percentage that you can use to compare a real estate investment with non-real estate investments. It combines the analysis of appreciation, tax effects, and cash flow into one number. It's a very useful figure understood by only the cream of the crop of real estate professionals.

If you buy the book, be sure to download the spreadsheets authored by Gary Tharp, CCIM, which are replicas of those used by Gordon in the book. (...)

If you're looking for a book on real estate investment, this isn't it. But if you want to know what MAKES a good investment financially, this is one of the few.

--Apartment Broker

Goodman's secret to having an income stream is to write flimsy, useless books. After 38 years in the industry you would think he would spend more than an afternoon rehashing common knowledge.

Large print, double spaced lines with common sense advice that you would know without reading the book left me angry.

I am a part-time lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. Due to an inadvertent error in Administration, we opted to purchase the required textbooks for students on-line. Since the semester had already started, timing was a critical issue. I am happy to report that all books were received within two (2) weeks of my ordering without any problems or complications. Additionally, in all cases, the condition of the product was,in general, better than expected. I therefore highly recommend using this service.

Gary (Very Satisfied Client)

This book is detailed and gives you the answers you seek in analyizing investment real estate. I am considering single family and multi-familiy properties. This book is accurate for estimating costs and not buying an overpriced property, which is when you make your money. As of 3-20-09 Real Estate is on sale AND rates are low. Both these do not always happen at the same time, so take advantage. Good luck with your investments!Trump Strategies for Real Estate: Billionaire Lessons for the Small InvestorListening: The Forgotten Skill: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides)The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich

you may want to read this book two or three times to make sure you understand the information. More for an experienced investor with complex formulas. But once you understand them and then apply them they make perfect sense. Anyone thinking of buying multi family or large commercial properties should definetly read this book.

The author actually described the valuation of a bank CD as simply dividing the cash flow by the interest rate - a perpetuity valuation! But one does not receive the CD cash flow for eternity. A CD is a single cash flow that requires a simple time-value discounting.

This teaching is akin to describing how the planets orbit the sun based on the theory of electromagnetics, or how a hybrid car runs so efficiently because a little gnome is in the engine turning a handcrank! A complete lack of conceptual understanding.

The author also goes on to define "single-family housing" as having 4 or fewer units and "multi-family housing" as having 5 or more units - a definition that is cumbersome at best and downright knuckleheaded at worst. This distinction is important, but it is the distinction between residential (single, duplex, triplex, or quadraplex) housing and commercial (multifamily) housing.

Other organization of the book is just poor. For example, in discussing useful financial ratio, the author introduces ratios using the net operating income (NOI) before actually defining the NOI a few pages later. (I won't get into the fact that NOI is introduced as another "ratio", although it's not; it's a dollar value off of the income sheet.)

In my opinion, as a non-author, this book is poorly written.

The book gives examples on financial calculations that can be done to determine if a piece of property is a good investment. However, the examples given are either too complex to be meaningful outside of the specific situtation or too simple to gain any understanding.

The second section of the book on "case studies", is not made for new investors. The examples involve huge sums of money and very complex situations. Two examples come to mind: One case study discussed buying an apartment complex in an overpriced area, another rambled on about legal trouble he had with a local zoning board. A simpler more straight forward example of properties would be much more valuable.

I also did not appreciate the fact that his company is plugged throughout the book. I guess it offers some value in that he has actually experienced the situations in the book but I cannot help but think this book was written only for the benefit of his company and not to eduate the readers. I have read many real estate books written by many successful investor who never mention their company's name. He mentions his constantly.

This book may make sense for investors with large cash reserves($500,000+) in that it explains some creative ways to identify ways to improve a property and it is written from real experience, but in general I do not recommend it.

I study with this book in my Real Estate Finance class. It's terrible. There is nothing new here. It's only about basic finance but, he changed the terms to look fancier. These new named financial terms are so much confusing. There are also so many errors in this book. Moreover, the author never stops talking about his achievements. I'm so sick of this book. I can't believe that they pick up this book for us to study.