Looking for literature reccomendations

[Jonathan Warner]

Hello all,

This is my first post on BP. I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and I am looking to begin real estate investing in the next year. 

Long term goals: Create a portfolio of commercial properties to generate passive income to beat out the returns (about 8%) of my current stock portflio by a significant enough margin to make it worth the effort.

Short term goals: Fix and flip a property in my local area to get my feet wet.

I understand the three major assets to bring to the table for this venture are capital, time, and knowledge/experience. I am trying to gain more knowledge right now before I start. Once I start I will begin with a flip to gain more experience. I dont have any other plans to bridge the short-term and long-term goals mentioned above.

I have enough money but I'm lacking time and experience. A lot of the literature comes from the perspective of replacing a W-2 job. To be honest, I need a different perspective that is more in line with my goals. I'm looking for something more along the lines of diversifying my more stock-based investment portfolio in a more active way. However, the end goal is to systemize in a fashion that will allow more passive involvement while retaining enough ROI to beat out my stock portfolios. I understand that, at the beggining, I will need to be more active and I'm willing to put in the time and effort for the first year or two to get to that point.

I am also open to the idea of syndications, private equity pool funds, and private lending in the future. But I have no immediate plans to get in involved yet.

Any pointers or literature reccomendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

,West

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Jonathan Warner:

A lot of YouTube experts push the idea that everyone should invest in real estate, quit their W-2 job, and retire by age 27. It's ludicrous. Most of those "experts" will be gone when the masses finally realize they're being sold trash.

Listen to the David Greene podcast on YouTube, Spotify, etc. He gives real advice for real people, and he doesn't shy away from the ugly realities of how hard it is to be successful. He's the best teacher out there that I'm aware of.

I would also be careful with books. A lot of modern books are full of fluff and thinly veiled attempts to sign you up for a coaching course, buy another product, or buy their next book which will reveal the "secrets" they failed to include in their first book. I prefer older books that are packed full of everything you need. One of my favorites is The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss. It has more practical information that almost any book written in the last ten years. It's out of print but you can find used copies.