Real Estate Investing Books to Propel Your Wealth-Building Forward

We have compiled a list and summaries of some of the best books available on real estate investing for both experienced investors and new real estate investors alike. These books provide expert advice on key topics such as flipping houses, rental property investing, how to build passive income with rental property investments, and commercial real estate investments.

Most of these books are classics and will provide you with a solid foundation and tools to get you started on the right path to real estate investing, building wealth, and financial freedom.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

The first book we’ll cover is an iconic resource that prompted many potential investors to enter the real estate game in the first place – Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert T. Kiyosaki. It is one of the best real estate books to start your journey into becoming a savvy real estate investor.

The basic principle of Rich Dad, Poor Dad is that Robert Kiyosaki has two dads that have influenced his mindset. His real father who is always broke helps shape Roberts’s decision to know that he doesn’t want to live as his real dad has lived. Instead, he is influenced by another dad (his best friend’s father) who teaches Robert about how to achieve financial independence and why the wealthy don’t work for money, they have their money work for them.

Highlights

• • • • He teaches that you don’t have to have a high income to be wealthy and that getting out of the “rat race” should be the end goal.
      • The poor and middle-class work for money and the wealthy have money work for them.
      • Having a job is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Fear keeps most people stuck working in jobs they dislike. People learn to fear losing their job. They fear getting laid off or fired. They fear not making enough money to pay their bills, and all of this fear keeps them stuck, unhappy, and broke.
      • Most people become a slave to money because they are not taught proper financial literacy early on.
      • He explains the difference between an asset and a liability, and how a primary residence is not an asset but a liability because it’s not bringing you income, and it does not pay for itself.
      • The book goes on to reveal that key financial measures of success are acquiring income-producing assets that build wealth one house or one commercial property at a time.
      • Get out of debt and start investing right away.
      • The book covers why it’s so important to pay yourself first. People with jobs get paid after taxes. People with businesses pay themselves before they pay their taxes. Getting paid after taxes keeps you broke, and getting paid before taxes helps you build wealth.

This is one of our favorite books particularly for beginner investors to help them understand the fundamentals of financial literacy and how to get your mindset in the right place to think like the wealthy. This book has pages and pages of in-depth advice that everyone should be taught as early as possible.

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing with Ken McElroy

This is a great book for anyone who is looking to become an active commercial real estate investor. It is a comprehensive guide on how to invest in commercial properties such as apartment buildings.

Ken McElroy is one of the Rich Dad’s Advisors, which is a team of seasoned advisors who are experts in their chosen fields in the areas of wealth creation and preservation. He has extensive experience as a property manager and owns one of the largest property management companies in the southwest.

Highlights

• • • • He dispels certain myths about real estate investing such as needing a lot of money to invest or the myth that you must start small because big deals are too risky.
      • Additionally, he is a big proponent of creating goals and being made accountable to those goals, and developing a strong team to work alongside you, which creates strong fundamentals to help individuals develop into successful investors.
      • The book covers the necessary steps to determine real estate market selection, how to research the market, and the steps in acquiring and managing commercial properties.
      • He goes into the different ways to determine the best property types in the chosen real estate market, putting together an LOI (Letter of Intent), how to conduct extensive due diligence before purchasing a property, a breakdown of purchase and sale agreements, and how to finance the properties.
      • There is a considerable amount of information on how to vet, hire and manage a property management company and how to implement property management tools.

This gives a lot of real-world examples and is a great foundational book for those individuals who are looking to step up their game and start investing in commercial real estate.

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks & Jay Papasan

This book is a compilation of over 100 millionaire investors from various backgrounds who share their wisdom in their pursuit of financial wealth and how they achieved just that. This is an exceptional book on not only investing but mindset as well and is ranked among the top ten real estate investment and leadership books. This resource is a great way for an investor, no matter what their level, to learn real life strategies on how to become wealthy through building a real estate portfolio.

Highlights

• • • • He covers the eight personal and investing myths that hold people back from success while underscoring the need to have the right mindset to be a successful real estate investor.
      • The book discusses why focus is more important than effort, experience, or even natural ability.
      • He discusses the four stages of growth in becoming a millionaire investor and the criteria for identifying solid investment opportunities; think a million, buy a million, own a million, and receive a million.
      • How thinking big is not risky, but actually the way to big success.
      • The seven ways millionaire investors think: think big why, think big goals (models and habits), think money matters, think net worth, think real estate, think value (opportunity and deals) and think action.
      • The five models of the millionaire real estate investor; the net worth model, the financial model, the network model, the lead generation model, and the acquisition model.
      • The book also covers the various ways to budget your finances so that you have more capital to invest in single-family homes to get started.
      • This resource provides less “how-to” advice on real estate investing and more of a foundational framework for investors who want to learn how 100 other successful investors became so through real estate investing.

This book is a keeper. It is a real estate book that covers the necessary steps of how to think to become a successful investor, and it provides the fundamentals needed before embarking upon your investing endeavors.

The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

This nearly 400-page resource is a great read for new investors on the ins and outs of becoming a rental property investor. Brandon discusses how to obtain that first rental property even in a competitive market and how to achieve success without having to be a hands-on landlord.

Highlights

• • • • Brandon discusses how to generate passive income through investing in residential properties and the best ways to find these great deals and how to navigate every step of the process.
      • He also discusses how important utilizing leverage is in purchasing rental properties. Unlike stock market investing the leverage when buying real estate helps you to build your wealth faster than almost any other investment vehicle.
      • Brandon covers why many real estate investors fail and he goes over the ways that can help you avoid those same mistakes.
      • He highlights the four ways you generate wealth when investing in rental properties; appreciation, cash flow, tax benefits, and the loan paydown.
      • He covers why real estate is one of the safer investments you can make and how housing provides a basic human need – the need for shelter, so will always be in demand.
      • He discusses the five keys to success; the mindset, educating yourself as much as possible, picking the right plan and knowing your “why”, acquiring the right asset, and understanding your cash flow and metrics.
      • Then he discusses the different types of properties to invest in, the methods you can use to invest, as well as various financing methods including creative financing.
      • He also discusses four different strategies to build wealth such as trading up (from single-family to multifamily investments) and building wealth through single-family homes – one home at a time, and house-hacking where your mortgage is paid down by roommates or tenants as you live in the property, and then there is the BRRR (buy, rehab, refinance, repeat) strategy of investing.

This book provides actionable strategies that are geared toward passive investors as well as active investors. This is a complete guide on buy-and-hold real estate investing and it helps investors learn all phases of investing from property acquisition to estimating rehab costs to tax strategies.

OTHER BOOKS WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND – In a Nutshell:

The Richest Man in Babylon by Geroge S. Classon

George Classon’s classic 1926 book is written in a series of parables to bring the laws of finance, money, and prosperity together so that anyone can use these “rules” and “laws” as a foundation for building wealth. Provides general themes of advice, particularly “The Seven Cures” and the “Five Laws of Gold.”

Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill

Think and Grow Rich is another classic that gives you a how-to approach to the mindset of the wealthy and professes that if you apply these same concepts, strategies, and belief systems you can absolutely change your life also.

Advanced Tax Strategies by Amanda Han and Mathew McFarland

This guide will show you ways to capitalize on the many tax benefits that real estate can provide to you as an investor that your CPA likely has not discussed with you. If you’re just getting into real estate investing, this book is a treasure trove of ideas you can use to reduce your taxes and help propel your wealth-building strategies.

Ready to Learn More? 

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Through the PCRP Passive Investor Club, you’ll get a priority review of all the deals we offer. We’ll work with you to determine your investing goals and then present you with the best deals to meet those goals. We’ll then guide you every step of the way as you invest in those deals.

So if you’re ready to start investing passively in institutional-grade, commercial real estate in fast-growing, climate-resilient markets in the U.S., join the PCRP Passive Investor Club  – IT’S FREE! – and get started on your path to EARN PASSIVELY and LIVE ABUNDANTLY!

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