Ranking the Best Real Estate Books for Beginners

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Whether you’re someone who wants to start investing in real estate or you’re a new real estate agent, reading books written by real estate experts is one of the best ways to acquire the knowledge you need to succeed in this industry.

Real estate books (and books in general) are so powerful, which is why I decided to immerse myself in real estate when I was first getting started.

The books that I’m going to go over will help you get started in real estate and stay in the industry for a long time with continued success.

This article covers the best real estate books for beginners, why real estate books are useful, and where to find the best real estate content online.

Enough talking, let’s jump right in!

Our top picks:

1. The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

2. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

3. Buy It, Rent It, Profit by Bryan Chavis

4. Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat (BRRRR) by David Greene

The best real estate books for beginners

The Book on Rental Property Investing

Number one on our list of the best real estate books for beginners is The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner.

Brandon Turner is a founding member of BiggerPockets and is the face of the company.

He is very active on YouTube and provides helpful information to his audience for free on the BiggerPockets channel.

It turns out that rental property investing is one of the best ways to generate passive income, and is also a great way for beginners to get started in real estate investing.

The barriers to entry are low and, as long as you can come up with the down payment, you have a very good chance of success with rental property investing as a beginner.

This book is not for flippers. The Book on Rental Property Investing goes in-depth on how to create wealth with buy-and-hold real estate investing.

What you’ll learn:

• Why most beginner real estate investors fail and how to avoid costly mistakes as a beginner

• How to use the tax code to your advantage and reduce or eliminate your tax bill

• Creative tips on how to find great deals in competitive markets

• How to come up with the necessary cash to buy rental properties

• How to succeed without touching toilets, cleaning kitchens, or scrubbing floors

• Many unique rental property strategies you can learn today

The Book on Rental Property Investing is my recommendation for the best real estate book for beginners.

The book is geared towards new investors without much experience finding deals and managing rental properties.

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Rich Dad Poor Dad

★ 5.0/5

Rich Dad Poor Dad is considered a classic investing book and one that everyone should read, regardless of your industry or background.

Robert Kiyosaki tells the story of growing up in Hawaii with a dad who had it all on the surface.

Robert’s “poor dad” was highly educated and made a lot of money at his job.

However, Robert noticed that his family constantly struggled to make ends meet and pay their most basic living expenses. 

One of Robert’s closest friend's father became his “rich dad,” as Robert would spend a lot of time at his friend’s house, talking with his rich dad about how he got started in business and the mindset that he uses to make money work for him.

Robert’s rich dad started to become a mentor to Robert and showed him how to make a lot of money and escape the rat race of the corporate lifestyle.

While Rich Dad Poor Dad isn’t a real estate book per se, there are plenty of helpful tips that you can use to shift your mindset into acquiring income-generating assets that increase your net worth and monthly cash flow over time. 

Real estate is mentioned throughout the book, and Robert makes it clear that investing in real estate is one of the best ways to create financial freedom and live the life you want on your own terms.

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Buy It, Rent It, Profit

★ 4.0/5

Another resource on how to invest in rental properties is Buy It, Rent It, Profit by Bryan Chavis.

This book takes a more practical approach to investing in rental properties and includes many of the actual forms you’ll need to buy your first rental property.

Bryan Chavis walks beginner real estate investors through the first steps of having the right mindset before investing all the way through managing your tenants and ensuring they continue to pay their rent on time.

He also explains the art of negotiation, how to finance rental properties, and how to deal with bad tenants.

Other things you’ll learn from this book include:

• Why rental properties are better than fix and flips

• Finding your first real estate deal and running the numbers

• How to use foreclosures as a way to get started in real estate investing

• How to scale your real estate investing portfolio

• How to protect yourself legally

• What to expect with maintenance for your rental properties

• What to do when your tenants break the rules

As you can see, Buy It, Rent It, Profit is packed with a ton of helpful information that new investors will find very useful.

While we think that this book provides a ton of value, we would still start with The Book on Rental Property Investing like we talked about above.

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Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat (BRRRR)

★ 4.5/5

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat is written by David Greene that focuses on the BRRRR (or “burr”) method of real estate investing.

This book shows you how the BRRRR strategy works and why investors have been using it for decades with continued success. 

Since real estate investing is a team sport, one of the most important things you need to do if you want to have success in real estate is to build a high-quality team.

This book discusses the key people you need on your team and how to find them.

What you’ll learn:

• How to get started investing with limited capital

• How to locate target properties locally and all over the country

• How to negotiate with sellers and make offers that get accepted

• The unique ways to increase the property’s value (and your net worth)

• How to recruit a top-tier team to help build wealth in real estate

• How to identify emerging markets and spot opportunities in the market

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Why real estate books are so useful

Using books as a way to learn new skills is one of the best ways to get started with real estate investing.

You’ll learn from experts who have blazed their own trails in the world of real estate and want to share with you what they’ve learned from their own experiences.

The best real estate books can also teach you about many different areas in real estate.

For example, some of the books we will discuss cover rental property investing while others focus on alternative strategies like the BRRRR method. 

You’ll also learn how to flip homes and how to structure your investment portfolio to include assets that generate consistent cash flow.

Where to find the best real estate content

While books will always be my favorite type of content to consume, some of these books can be rather expensive.

If you’re not ready to buy one of these books just yet, all this information can be found online for free by searching on Google for what you’re looking for. 

If you’re looking for content on how to get started in real estate investing, a quick Google search will return thousands of results from people who know how to teach beginners how to invest in real estate. 

However, those who want a physical book to carry around and read wherever they want may find that buying a book is the better option.

Most of these books can also be purchased as audiobooks from Amazon with Audible. 

For those that don’t enjoy audiobooks, investing in one of the following books is a great option and lets you access the information from wherever you are without having to search Google for the answers.

Popular real estate publications

Aside from the following books we will discuss, below are the best places on the internet that provide tons of helpful information for beginner real estate investors:

BiggerPockets

BiggerPockets has positioned itself as a leader in the world of real estate investing.

They have a ton of YouTube videos that cover the basics of how to get started with rental property investing with little or no money.

The BiggerPockets team is led by Brandon Turner and David Greene who also host a podcast and run weekly webinars for students.

Brandon is a tall and lanky nerd who has a passion for investing in rental properties.

He specializes in investing in trailer parks and has said he has well over 1000 rental units in his portfolio.

What I like about BiggerPockets is that you’re learning from people who have made millions in real estate investing and continue to do it to this day.

Some online course gurus may have made a few thousand bucks from real estate and now think they’re qualified to sell courses teaching others how to do it.

From finding an agent to buying your first fix and flip, BiggerPockets has all the information you need to get started investing in real estate.

Nerdwallet

Nerdwallet is another trusted resource when it comes to personal finance and investing.

They have thousands of helpful reviews on things ranging from credit cards, insurance companies, mortgages, travel, and much more.

Nerdwallet does a great job at hiring expert freelance writers in the field of personal finance.

They produce dozens of articles each day and continue to provide helpful content to their readers.

Nerdwallet is also a great place to learn about real estate investing.

Their article on how to invest in real estate in 5 different ways is one of the most helpful resources that I’ve been able to find on ways to actually start investing and making passive income from real estate.

Investopedia

Investopedia is often the first result on Google for many investing and real estate topics.

They have a team of experts who know everything there is about real estate investing and the best investment strategies for beginners. 

You can find plenty of helpful information on Investopedia, but we really like them for their ability to break down complex topics and make them easy to understand for beginner real estate investors.

Final thoughts

Beginners should immerse themselves in everything there is to know about getting started investing in real estate, and books are a great way to do so.

We honestly believe you can’t go wrong with any of these books to get your real estate career started.

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