After Kiyosaki and Ramsay, it's time for some substance

[Richard C.]

Very often we see people on here talk about how they are educating themselves by reading books relating to the real estate and lending industries. And that sounds great, until you realize that mostly they are reading motivational books by people like Ramsay and Kiyosaki. The equivalent of Chicken Soup for the Real Estate Dreamer's Soul. At best, maybe they've read Keller's book, which is fine but hardly rigorous. So I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread to gather peoples' recommendations of substantive books in the field.

If you have read Ramsay and Kiyosaki, you have a foundation for a successful career in real estate and business, in very much the same way that, having read "Run Spot, Run", you have a foundation for a successful career in literary criticism. If you are ready to move to the next step (warning: actual work ahead), read on:

The Wall Street Journal Complete Real Estate Investing Guidebook, by David Crook. Dated now, and never terribly exhaustive, but a good, accessible guide to how the basics work. Very much an overview, basically what Kiyosaki claims to be but isn't. Worth reading.

Real Estate Fundamentals, by Gaddy and Hart. Just as the title says, this is a book about fundamentals, so it won't teach you everything you need to know. But it provides the foundation. One of the basically two options that are used as the basic text for real estate agent training classes. Everyone considering buying a "system", or finding themselves tempted by the "real estate educators" that sometimes pollute BP should save themselves a tremendous amount of money and heartache by stating with this book instead.

Real Estate Finance & Investment Manual, by Jack Cummings. Like The Millionaire Real Estate investor, written by a real estate broker and from that perspective. Not written from the perspective of a lender. But actually quite substantive. Dated in places, but they issue new editions regularly and should be due to release another soon.

Understanding the Law of Zoning and Land Use Controls, by Barlow Burke. A fairly comprehensive guide to the basics of land use control. Jurisdiction-independent, which means it cannot be exhaustive, but provides a good background on the legal framework of land use control. A book used by law students as a study guide (not the text, more like the Cliff Notes) for classes in real estate and land use law.

Secured Transactions for the Practitioner, by Frank Peretore. This is a "lawyer book", no way around it. A "Tome" even :). Don't slug your way through it and think that having done so means you can dispense with hiring a lawyer if you are going to deal in financing and notes, because that would be stupid. Also, that's not really what this is about, it covers Article 2 at least as much as Article 9.  But it will give you a basic understanding (better than basic, actually) of the concept of priority.

So, everyone, have any more to add? Let's try to create a list of substantive works, not rah-rah self-help nonsense.  What do you suggest that new investors read, in order to actually educate themselves?