ABCs of Investing: If you are interested in real estate investing and want to read a real estate book that guides you through the process of researching property for the purpose of investment, then check out The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss and Martin Stone. This book takes you through the ABCs of investing, market research, goal setting, money management, and property management. It then gives you tips to help you get started in investing and face your fears. The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing provides several sections on investing. It takes you through how lending transactions work and the process of purchasing property. It also shows how real estate investing pays off over time.
Market Research
The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing provides information on how to “master the market”. It describes how to review the overall real estate market and economy and the local market(s) in your area. It discusses how you should do research on your target market. It then discusses how to compare the research you did on the economy and the local market(s) to the research you did on your target market in order to determine the health of your target market. The sections on market research also provide information on how to determine your target market and the property types you wish to target.
Goal Setting and Money Management
The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing gives information on how to research and develop an investment plan of action. The book also provides guidance on the taxes you will have to pay as a property investor and how to set up a tax plan. The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing shows how your investment plans are put to the test by making a property purchase and then following through to watch those investments expand and grow.
Property Management
The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing has sections on how to manage tenants and how to manage properties. It provides information on how to handle tenant complaints, service calls, and rental payments. It also provides information on how to manage expenses associated with owning a property.
Training for a career in real estate:
If you are studying to become an agent, the book 5 Steps to Real Estate Success: What Every Successful Agent Knows to Beat the Competition by Lauren Starkey provides a detailed list of steps for new agents to follow in learning the real estate craft and in developing their own strategy.
The high-level steps to becoming a real estate success are:
1. Learning the basics of becoming a real estate agent.
This section gives a large list of real estate terms and definitions that all real estate agents should learn. This section also sets expectations for new agents who are just getting their license and starting work at an agency or working on their own.
2. Developing soft skills.
This section provides tips to managing your time as a real estate agent. It also discusses the importance of networking with family, friends, business associates, and customers to find more customers and gives methods to networking more efficiently.
3. Developing relationships.
This section talks about methods in which you can develop relationships with your customers. It discusses the importance of developing a web site as an alternate storefront for customers to use in finding out about your services. It discusses how important it is for you, as a new agent, to learn the In’s and Out’s of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). It also talks about how you can use email to advertise to new customers or use email to communicate and build relationships with existing customers.
4. Meeting customer needs.
This section reviews common needs of buyers and sellers and what an agent is responsible for doing in terms of meeting their client’s needs.
5. Completing a sale.
This section helps a new agent learn the overall process of completing a sale, which is to receive an offer, help the buyer make an offer or help the seller decide upon an offer, help the seller set a price, help negotiate a price between the buyer and seller, and process all paperwork associated to completing the sale.
