Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Real Estate Investing for Dummies Part I

Disclosure: I am not paid in any way for reviewing this book.  I'd be the first to tell you that if you are interested in it, then check out your local library first.

Ok...so I finally finished the first part of this book. I usually don't take so long reading a book--any book--but I've had to squeeze this one in here and there. No biggie since I'm not ready to invest yet anyway.

The first part was pretty interesting. I learned some things, some I already knew, and others I just skipped because it really didn't pertain to me at this time.

The items they talked about that were obvious at least to me were to:
  1. Pay off all your consumer debt
  2. If you are a business owner, buy the building you are utilizing
  3. Max out your retirement accounts
To me these all make perfect sense. We had a couple that lived a block over that built his primary home plus at the same time had two homes slated for rentals built on our street. Needless to say that was stupid. He lost all three homes to foreclosure just last year. So I should also add to that list above to never rush into investing in property all at once and never when you are also purchasing your primary home. Buy one property at a time and carefully plan each purchase.

Something I learned that helped validate what I was planning on doing was that single-family homes and/or apartments (4 units or less) are the top recommended choices for investment properties. My plan is to buy (one at a time and as I'm ready) in the town I currently live in and the one next door. This gives me more options of single-family homes, duplexes, and quad apartment homes. Plus I know the areas well.

Other good advice they give is to build a team prior to buying.
  • Find a good tax advisor/accountant with property investment experience
  • Work on a relationship with a mortgage lender or broker (thankfully I already have someone I can contact that I feel comfortable with)
  • Find a real estate broker and agent with a solid track record in investment property transactions. He/she should also be a single agency representative meaning he/she will work for you and not the sellers
  • An appraiser is extremely important when considering buying an investment property
  • An attorney can be helpful and sometimes necessary
The next section to read is Part II: How to Get the Money

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice blog very good and thanks for giving us the details
Property Investment Advice

thanks

Andin said...

Thank you, jay,for the comments.

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing your reading experince with us
now we dont need to read book...
jocking.....

investment properties

Andin said...

Jay,
I appreciate your comments, but only one comment per post please. All others will be deleted. Thank you.