20 June 2007 3 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

 Gary Eldred released the 5th edition of his guide to investing in real estate. Andrew Mclean (co-author) left the project after the first edition. In this book Gary presents an easy to understand, straight forward handbook for building and maintaining wealth through real estate investments. I loved the book when I read the fourth edition almost 2 years ago and I still reference the book and reread it from time to time. Its literally a wealth of information and well worth the price, which is less than $14 on amazon.com. Talk about ROI.

Heres how the book is laid out:

Stocks vs. Real Estate
A great way to start any book is with a good ol’ fashion stocks vs. real estate comparison/slug fest. The points he make are very solid and insightful, convincing to say the least. I like the fact that he addressed this issue right off the bat because you now go on to read the rest of the book with enthusiasm and a belief in the real estate investment vehicle.

Everything!
The next few chapters comprises of literally everything regarding real estate investment. This includes financing options, finding properties, managing properties, flipping properties, appraisals, tenant law, foreclosures, short sales, lease options, offers and maintenance. The information in these chapters are solid and accurate. The appendix even includes a large list of URLs to get further information on these topics.

Exit Strategy
Gary then completes the book by talking about exit strategies (selling for top dollar) and long term planning. He goes into how to pay less taxes and how to build an “income for life.”

The only thing I wish he did was focus a little more on potential pitfalls of investing in real estate. He did dive a little into law and liability issues, but there are other obstacles that all investors may face over time. Overall, this is a very solid book for a novice, professional, or would-be real estate investor. The concepts are solid as rock. On paper, real estate is a tremendous tool for wealth building.