What are the top 5 books for real estate investors? For the past decade, my entire working life has been committed to real estate investing and coaching, training and mentoring others on how to become successful real estate investors. As you probably could tell from my company name, I am extremely passionate that the secret to success in any endeavor is in having a mentor. It is difficult to learn to ride a bike by reading the manual. That's why a mentor is so critical to your success. However, books do have their place in financial education. Besides my masterpiece of American literature, How to be a Real Estate Investor, and rising above the noise of hundreds of thousands of mediocre books, here are the ones I recommend to prospective real estate entrepreneurs. And as an added bonus, several of them are FREE! Here are the top 5 books for real estate investors:
1. The Bible: Surprised? Studies have shown that CEOs and business leaders the world over recognize the Bible as the #1 business book in their library. Specifically, read the book of Proverbs, 1 chapter each day (there are 31 chapters); it will take you a few minutes to complete each day. The author was King Solomon, the richest man in history. He knows a thing or two about success and money. You can get access to the Bible for free from several places. I recommend YouVersion and also, download their Bible app to your iPhone or Droid. YouVersion gives you access to several translations; I recommend the NIV 1984 translation. And further, I highly encourage you to seek the assistance of a mentor to help you fully comprehend this book (if you haven't already done so). It's the best selling book year after year and the best selling of all time for a reason.
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: Real estate is a people business. Knowing how to deal with people is one of the most important skills you will need to succeed with real estate investing. Too many beginner investors skip over this important foundational step and then find themselves frustrated by not making any money or closing any deals. Dale Carnegie's classic, after 70 years, remains the standard in discovering how to win friends and influence people. It has stood the test of time and even more good news is that you can download the How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Free eBook here. You'll also want to read this book over and over again.
5. Good to Great by Jim Collins: This is my personal favorite business book. It reveals the most productive way to build a business for the long term. If you are going to a be a real estate investor, it means you are going to be a business owner. Rather than read hundreds of business books, if you just read and apply what you learn from this one, you will be light years ahead of hundreds of thousands of businesses out there. Whether you are looking to build a one person operation or a huge company, the lessons you'll discover in this book are eye opening and incredibly powerful. Although this book hasn't been around as long as the others on this list, I believe that many years from now, Good to Great will be as popular and applicable as it is today. This book more than any other (except the Bible, of course), has had the most profound impact on my business life.
Those are 5 extremely powerful books that you should read and re-read. Extraordinary wisdom is contained in them. But as helpful as they are, you can't learn to ride a bike by reading the manual. Instead, I have found that having the right mentor is the best way to learn how to be a successful real estate investor. I certainly provide reading materials for the people I mentor (my manual is over 900 pages and growing!), but its when you are in the trenches, doing the deals, that you realize what challenges pop up in the real world can't always be explained ahead of time in print. If you are serious about becoming a successful investing, apply to become my next apprentice.