January 30th, 2010 
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Product Description
This practical, real-world guide gives investors all the tools they need to make wise decisions when weighing the value and potential of investment properties. Written for old pros as well as novice investors, this friendly, straightforward guide walks readers step by step through every stage of property analysis. Whether you’re buying or selling, investing in big commercial properties or single-family rentals, you’ll find expert guidance and handy resources on ever… More >>
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I own a small business and used Berges’s book to help me analyze two commercial real estate aquisitions for our business’s office locations. I felt Berges does an admirable job of giving the reader what he/she needs to know to profit. Not too simple. Not too complex. Just right.
Rating: 5 / 5
you may want to read this book two or three times to make sure you understand the information. More for an experienced investor with complex formulas. But once you understand them and then apply them they make perfect sense. Anyone thinking of buying multi family or large commercial properties should definetly read this book.
Rating: 4 / 5
This book is detailed and gives you the answers you seek in analyizing investment real estate. I am considering single family and multi-familiy properties. This book is accurate for estimating costs and not buying an overpriced property, which is when you make your money. As of 3-20-09 Real Estate is on sale AND rates are low. Both these do not always happen at the same time, so take advantage. Good luck with your investments!Trump Strategies for Real Estate: Billionaire Lessons for the Small InvestorListening: The Forgotten Skill: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides)The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich
Rating: 4 / 5
I study with this book in my Real Estate Finance class. It’s terrible. There is nothing new here. It’s only about basic finance but, he changed the terms to look fancier. These new named financial terms are so much confusing. There are also so many errors in this book. Moreover, the author never stops talking about his achievements. I’m so sick of this book. I can’t believe that they pick up this book for us to study.
Rating: 1 / 5
As a former commercial real estate broker, I was always amazed at how much time investors, even experienced ones, would spend analyzing where they can cut operational costs, while paying so little to financing costs. A half of one percent reduction in your interest rate can make a huge difference because debt service is the biggest expense, far outweighing real estate taxes, utilities, and maintenance. If you do not understand real estate financing, you really have no idea what you are doing.
This book does a good job showing readers how to use different financial calculations for single-family and multifamily properties, but it is not as good for commercial properties. I am not surprised because the author is an expert in residential properties, including multifamily. Retail and industrial properties, both of which fall under commercial properties, are governed by longer leases and many times require investors to use a software program called Argus.
The other thing that I will say is that even though these calculations can be used for small residential properties, you have to realize that the smaller you get, the less sophisticated the buyers and sellers are. So, if you think you can sell your property for $X amount because that’s what the formula is telling you, it doesn’t mean anything if your buyer does not understand your formula. From my experience, if you are dealing with properties under $3 million, most buyers and sellers are not very knowledgeable in finance.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market
Rating: 5 / 5