Real Estate Books

[luxome]

(I'm not sure where to categorize this thread)

I personally only read books that people recommend. I rarely read any book just by picking it up from the shelf or ordering online.

So, what are some Real Estate or Real Estate related (e.g., Investing, Mortgage, Renting, etc.) books that you have read and highly recommend?


Lets compile a list, shall we?

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Greater Fool (Garth Turner)
Making Money in Real Estate: The Canadian Guide to Profitable Investment in Residential Property (Douglas Gray)
The Real Estate Game: The Intelligent Guide to Decision-Making and Investment (William Poorvu)

 

[cabbagetowner]

(I'm not sure where to categorize this thread)

I personally only read books that people recommend. I rarely read any book just by picking it up from the shelf or ordering online.

So, what are some Real Estate or Real Estate related (e.g., Investing, Mortgage, Renting, etc.) books that you have read and highly recommend?


Lets compile a list, shall we?

greaterfool: garth turner

 

[digitalis]

A book that I read some time ago was "Making Money in Real Estate: The Canadian Guide to Profitable Investment in Residential Property" by Douglas Gray. I can't say it was the best book out there, but it was informative for somebody who has never been involved in real estate investments, being a landlord, etc. If you are not sure where or how to start investing in real estate, this may be a good read.

 

[gmania]

Back in my undergrad days, I purchased a book for an urban development class called The Real Estate Game: The Intelligent Guide to Decision-Making and Investment by William Poorvu. The book is from 1999 and I haven't touched it since about 2002, so it might be out of date.

Four out of Five stars on Amazon.com based on 23 customer reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Estate-Game-Intelligent-Decisionmaking/dp/068485550X

 

[Observer Walt]

No offense, but one book I would not read would be Garth Turner's. I used to read his weekly column, until I realized, maybe belatedly, that he sings only one song, and it has only one note. He started proclaiming doom and gloom in the real estate markets at least five years ago, and seems to have had nothing else to contribute.

It takes little skill to say that sooner or later, a cyclical market will hit a downward part of the cycle. In the meantime, Turner would have liked you to sit and rent, and miss any return at all from the upward part of the cycle.

 

[Cave Spot]

Garth Turner is known for making horrible predictions. In September 1999, he publishedthe book "2020: New Rules for the New Age".

Some quotes from 1999.

“If you have the bulk of your net worth in a home, you are probably at risk. You certainly will not see your wealth grow over the next 20 years. In fact, you may see a large chunk of it evaporate.”

“Because real estate is no longer an inflating asset, buying a home and spending the next 15 years paying down the mortgage could be disastrous. Not only will the house likely be worth less at the end of that period, but the buyers could well have missed the best decade and a half in their lives to grow money in financial assets like stocks and mutual funds. Far better that extra money be put into high-growth assets like equity mutual funds than fed to a mortgage with a low interest rate.”

“10 years from now you should expect stock values to have at least doubled, if not quadrupled.”

“Financial markets in North America, Europe, Japan, and other places are headed vastly higher. The Dow at 10,000 is just a stepping stone to a market that could achieve 30,000 or even 50,000 by 2015.”

“The Canadian Peso: A steady slide over the last 15 years. There is little reason to believe this trend will stop, increasing the argument for putting more of your wealth into something more stable, like the U.S. dollar.”

“Stocks will be higher in a decade than they are today. Between 1990 and 2000 the Dow went up 500%. Do you really think that between 2000 and 2010 it will go down?”

More quotes can be found here:

http://stockbullz.com/What-Garth-Turner-Wrote-In-1999

Even if he is right about a real estate crash, he has been saying to avoid real estate from 1999. Off by a decade or so is not that bad right!

 

[simuls]

Garth Turner is an idiot.

 

[TrickyRicky]

Garth Turner may or may not be an idiot but at least he has a sense of humour about it. Even if you think he's an idiot the guy has more sense than the vast majority of economists who are the media point people for our government and our major financial institutions.

...and if you want to know who the greatest fools are note that Turner himself has been buying and selling real estate personally since 1999.

 

[Eug]

Garth Turner may or may not be an idiot but at least he has a sense of humour about it.

Not really.

...and if you want to know who the greatest fools are note that Turner himself has been buying and selling real estate personally since 1999.

If so, then that might make him quite the hypocrite.

Anyways, I'm happy I bought in 1999.

 

[reals007]

I read Making money in real estate and its so useful book. I also want to become real estate agent and it give me good information.I also find new real estate books on google.

 

[Yossi Kaplan MBA]

Garth is no fool (but)

As a Real Estate professional I had to pick up Garth's book and check it out. Surely I can write it off so why not?

Garth makes no real news... his main point is... "boo!" lets scare them all and get them to buy more books. Yes he's got some interesting points but nothing you don't already know.

If anyone is interested in articles about RE, check out my site, there are many of them (and for now we're saving trees and staying online).

Cheers yk