Real Estate Investing for Dummies

Authors Eric Tyson and Robert S. Griswold (the 'S' stands for '$old') do an excellent job of breaking down the often confusing and risky world of real estate. As one of the "common man" I wanted to learn about buying and selling land and hopefully seeing quite a return on my investment. I'm happy to report that this book is a simple entertaining and educational read.

Real estate has always been a fascination for me. When I was 5-years old I remember my father telling me, "Son, stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are no damn good, but they will always need land and they'll pay through the nose to get it!"

"Remember," My father said, "...LAND."

Those words still resound with me today. And, after reading Real Estate Investing for Dummies I've slowly been buying land east of the San Andreas Fault, so if indeed the "big one" hits, I'll see quite an increase in my initial investment as I'm sitting on the new west coast.

For people interested in my strategy I'd also like to recommend the book -Predicting Earthquakes: A Scientific and Technical Evaluation - with Implications for Society by The Assembly of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

This book is super if you are considering real estate as an investment. I like it so much, I take it with me virtually everywhere I go! It is a suberb resource and caters to almost everyone in every situation! A great book and will definitely get my use out of it! Delivery was super fast too!

Real Estate Investing for Dummies is yet another excellent real estate book in the Dummies series. I have "Home Buying for Dummies" and "Property Management for Dummies." Both are highly valued, and frequently utilized, volumes in my investing library.

I have long thought that "Real Estate Investing" by McLean and Eldred was perhaps the top book for beginning real estate investors. But after reading "Real Estate Investing for Dummies," I now think the Dummies is equally as good, although it may not cover quite as much ground. Dummies is excellent in what it presents because it written in a manner that is easily understood, it provides sufficent depth, and it covers the key topics.

I particularly like the chapter on "Due Diligance." The chapter does an outstanding job of describing the components of reviewing books and records, and inspecting a property that you have bid on and have had the bid accepted by the seller. Purchase contracts provide that the sale can be canceled without loss of earnest money if the buyer's physical inspection isn't satisfactory. Following the suggestions in this chapter assure that you won't be surprised with what you get, and gives tips on how to cancel or renogiate the deal, if you need to.

I also like the final chapter, which lays out in plain English the time tested (non-infomercial guru) principals of how to make money in real estate. Buy when market conditions are conducive to buying, when properties are distressed and available as forclosures or on favorable terms with seller financing. Add value to properties. Hold on to properties that offer long-tem stable growth in rental rates. Refinance to tap into investment property equity and to further your real estate investments.

Good solid advice.

This book is stupendous! It covers a tremendous amount of information to get you started in real estate investing. My wife and I are starting a real estate holding company and this book has been the foundation of our learning.

The only strange thing about the book is that for some reason the authors decided to only use the feminine pronouns "she" or "her" when referring to general individuals, such as "It's very difficult for an owner to lose her home and it's often even more difficult for her to..."

At first this was just odd, but it became a real distraction and annoyance that they never use "he or she" or the common practice in English of using the male pronoun for such situations.

Despite this sort of printed verbal tick, this is an excellent book with a lot of information.

I was amazed at how quickly I received this book. The book was in excellent shape.