5 comments about Real Estate Investing for Dummies.

1. Real Estate Investing for Dummies is yet another excellent real estate book in the Dummies series. I have "Home Buying for Dummies" and "Property Management for Dummies." Both are highly valued, and frequently utilized, volumes in my investing library.
   
   I have long thought that "Real Estate Investing" by McLean and Eldred was perhaps the top book for beginning real estate investors. But after reading "Real Estate Investing for Dummies," I now think the Dummies is equally as good, although it may not cover quite as much ground. Dummies is excellent in what it presents because it written in a manner that is easily understood, it provides sufficent depth, and it covers the key topics.
   
   I particularly like the chapter on "Due Diligance." The chapter does an outstanding job of describing the components of reviewing books and records, and inspecting a property that you have bid on and have had the bid accepted by the seller. Purchase contracts provide that the sale can be canceled without loss of earnest money if the buyer's physical inspection isn't satisfactory. Following the suggestions in this chapter assure that you won't be surprised with what you get, and gives tips on how to cancel or renogiate the deal, if you need to.
   
   I also like the final chapter, which lays out in plain English the time tested (non-infomercial guru) principals of how to make money in real estate. Buy when market conditions are conducive to buying, when properties are distressed and available as forclosures or on favorable terms with seller financing. Add value to properties. Hold on to properties that offer long-tem stable growth in rental rates. Refinance to tap into investment property equity and to further your real estate investments.
   
   Good solid advice.



2. This book is super if you are considering real estate as an investment. I like it so much, I take it with me virtually everywhere I go! It is a suberb resource and caters to almost everyone in every situation! A great book and will definitely get my use out of it! Delivery was super fast too!



3. Authors Eric Tyson and Robert S. Griswold (the 'S' stands for '$old') do an excellent job of breaking down the often confusing and risky world of real estate. As one of the "common man" I wanted to learn about buying and selling land and hopefully seeing quite a return on my investment. I'm happy to report that this book is a simple entertaining and educational read.
   
   Real estate has always been a fascination for me. When I was 5-years old I remember my father telling me, "Son, stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are no damn good, but they will always need land and they'll pay through the nose to get it!"
   
   "Remember," My father said, "...LAND."
   
   Those words still resound with me today. And, after reading Real Estate Investing for Dummies I've slowly been buying land east of the San Andreas Fault, so if indeed the "big one" hits, I'll see quite an increase in my initial investment as I'm sitting on the new west coast.
   
   For people interested in my strategy I'd also like to recommend the book -Predicting Earthquakes: A Scientific and Technical Evaluation - with Implications for Society by The Assembly of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.



4. i'm currently reading this one and it's full of useful info, tips etc. i have hiliter marks of different colors, post it notes all over it and a notebook i keep handy so as i'm reading i can jot down questions or take notes as reminders of rules i need to follow i.e. invest close to home; buy good property in a good location. i'm finding the book very useful since i'm new to real estate.



5. This was all great advise for 2005-2006. Now here we are 2008 and everything is upside-down and the best and safest investments appear to be short-sales and various wholesale flipping stategies for investment. As I read the book I kept being reminded of how a changing market requires a changing approach to investing.

5 comments about The Market Guys' Five Points for Trading Success: Identify, Pinpoint, Strike, Protect and Act!.

1. Good introduction book to read if thinking about starting to invest. Most of the information is basic that I've seen in a lot of free educational webiners on broker websites. Review and repetition is a good thing, the mother of skill and the key to being a successful trader.



2. It covered from money management to technical entry and stop position. It is one of the best trading book I ever read. Thank you.



3. This book in my hand is worth ten books out there.It's one of the most complete book on trading I have read.The easy to read format and simple set ups,with money management makes this book a stand out.Thank you AJ and Rick for a job well done.I highly recommend this book, especially for
   anyone who's serious about their trading.



4. I consider this book to be a must read when you invest. The approach to investing that they recommend is very simple and is the best group of ideas I have come across yet. Their chapter on mistakes to avoid is critical reading, every time I have neglected their recommendations it has cost me money. This chapter alone is worth many times the price of the book. In today's highly volatile market their trading recommendations are even more useful.



5. AJ and Rick are such great teachers and truly are in this for our benefits,this book is a"must read" for beginners and everyone alike.

5 comments about The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders.

1. I'm a huge fan of the first book in the "Market Wizards" series which I have now read several times over. With this book however, I have to say I was a bit disappointed because I expected it to be just as good as the first. Some of the traders seemed to be a bit withheld and they didn't share as much insight as did those in the first book. I was especially disappointed that the "turtles" interviewed were not very open. It's understandable for traders to be tight-lipped about their strategies, but it makes for a less interesting book. That being said, there are some great traders interviewed here and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who liked "Market Wizards".



2. I read the books backwards - New Market Wizards first and then Market Wizards. I liked them both. To me it was like trading food. Here is a group of rather normal people who have mastered the art of making money. The books fed my appetite for trading knowledge and developed my willpower to trade.
   
   These are a great read - I will, no doubt, probably read these often just to get the mental boost that they offer. Highly recommended!



3. Schwager's interviews are good. Where can you have chance to see how these top guns trade? obviously, some of them were more reserved and didn't give up much useful information. but remember these people don't have to share anything. i am glad Schwager took the pain to finish this project!



4. this book has inspired me to make billions of dollars. Since reading this masterpiece i have accumulated over $27 billion in currency and day trading market. AHH DAAAAAT !!!!!!



5. Worth the time to learn how expert traders analyze the market. One of many in my collection.

5 comments about Day Trading For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)).

1. I received this book as a gift and, at first, I was skeptical. I spent 20 years working for investment banks starting as a runner on the floor and retiring as the head of a trading desk. "What," I asked, "does this book have to teach me?"
   
   Ah, beware of hubris! I was pleasantly surprised at what I learned. The book has a good introduction to how to obtain the sorts of information that a real day trader will need, but is best on the emotional. Emotions are almost always overlooked. I've seen lots of bright people rise to a certain point on a trading desk and then just implode because they couldn't handle the stress. And these were people working with other's money. It is even worse when it's your own dough on the line. The guy who practices day trading until he has his system all ready and then blows out a month after going live is very common.
   
   Early in my career I started my own firm. This was before day trading was even technically possible and the firm was in the options pits. I got on the emotional roller coaster: on good days it was "Come on Honey, its steak dinner time!" On bad days I tried to save money by rationing toothpaste. It all ended in tears.
   
   This is all by way of stressing the role emotions play in successfully trading the market. This book discusses strategies actually employed by some of the best traders on Wall Street and the book is worth looking into for that alone.



2. I have a Mensa IQ - have traded equities for 15 years and found this book to be complex and difficult to read. It presumes a lot of things that puts this well outside the title " For Dummies." "Daytrading for Intermediate to Advanced Traders" would be more honest.
   If you are looking for simple understanding of the day trading concept, look elsewhere. If you want an advanced text, this is probably a minimally fair choice.



3. This book has been wonderful for me explaining the very basics of day trading! I would highly reconmend this book to anyone who wants to see what it's all about and how things work. It's obviously not meant to be a detailed book but more of "what this means and what that means". Perfect for dummmies!



4. Should have been "Stock trading for dummies". Absolutely worthless book, if you are looking for specific day trading information. Full of regurgitated information about technical analysis and stock glossary, etc. Try `The Market Maker's Edge' by Josh Lukeman...



5. Very good book, informative, the right level of detail, well written, easy to ready, a good starting book to learn about day trading.

5 comments about The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio.

1. Book goes through the history of investing. It gets quite technical and at times very difficult to follow, only really in one chapter where he discusses what affects stock prices. And rereading it helps out. As the author suggests though, just read a little bit at a time. It's a lot of material to digest. But overall it discusses the advantages of using index funds and the need to diversify. I feel that the book speaks the truth regarding investing and everybody should at least be familiar with the concepts discussed in the book.



2. In the introduction to his book, "The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio," Dr. William Bernstein states that the "competent investor never stops learning." Yet, because the world of investing can be such a confusing place, it sometimes seems that the more you learn, the more confused you get. As a participant on the Bogleheads message board, I feel I am an educated investor but still I often get lost after reading all the different debates: Should I invest in total markets or slice and dice my portfolio? Should I invest all my money at once or adopt a dollar cost averaging philosophy? How much foreign exposure should I have? Is now the right time to buy REITs, or do I need them at all? One day, while perusing the message board and sifting through some of these same questions, I found a suggested investing reading list, and this book was listed as the starting point. In this straightforward book, explained with easy-to-understand examples, Dr. Bernstein provides a solid framework for investors to begin to answer some of these questions.
   
   In setting this framework, Dr. Bernstein introduces readers to four basic concepts, or what he terms the four pillars of investing: the theory, history, psychology, and business of investing. The first pillar, the theory of investing, gets most of his attention, as it comprises the first 100 pages of the book and explains how the bond and stock markets work. In this section, Dr. Bernstein emphasizes what he calls the "most important concept in finance" - the relationship between risk and reward. If investors want high returns, they must take great risks. Following this logic, Dr. Bernstein makes some conclusions that may seem foreign to most investors. For example, the best time to invest is not when things are going well, but when they are going poorly. Those who invest during a bubble are not taking a risk and therefore can expect low returns, whereas those investing during a bear market are taking a risk and therefore can expect (but will not be guaranteed) higher returns. Similarly, those who invest in "good companies" like Wal-Mart can expect lower returns than those who invest in "bad companies" like K-Mart, because good companies, with low risk, are generally bad stocks, while bad companies are generally good stocks. This idea - that high returns cannot be achieved without significant risk - is the key concept Dr. Bernstein continues to emphasize throughout the book.
   
   While the first pillar gets the most attention, Dr. Bernstein terms the second pillar, the history of investing, as "the one that causes the most damage" to investors. What separates the professional investor from the amateur investor is that the professional recognizes that bear markets are a fact of life - they inevitably come about once every generation, usually sparked by a new technological advance. Professional investors stay the course and don't panic; they have a plan and stick with it. In fact, for beginning investors, a bear market is a blessing, allowing them to accumulate stocks at low prices. This concept again ties to the relationship between risk and return: throughout history, in times of great optimism, when prices are the highest and the risk is the lowest, future returns are the lowest, and when times look the bleakest, and risk is the highest, future returns are also the highest.
   
   In the third pillar, the psychology of investing, this relationship between risk and return is again raised. Most investors follow conventional wisdom of the time, investing in specific stocks or asset classes that are currently the most successful and thus buying at high prices. Dr. Bernstein provides two strategies to counter this psychology. He advises readers first to identify the conventional wisdom of the time and do the exact opposite. He also advises readers that assets with the highest future returns tend to be the ones that are currently most unpopular. The investor that is able to go against the flow - to stick with unpopular asset classes and pay attention to his or her entire portfolio return - in the long-run will be the most successful.
   
   Finally, the fourth pillar concerns the business of investing, which details how brokers, analysts, and the media work together to make money at the expense of often ignorant investors by peddling bad or biased information. Instead of paying exorbitant fees to brokerage firms or financial advisors, which steer investors to underperforming managed funds, investors can buy low-expense index funds through companies like Vanguard and thus tap "into the most powerful intelligence in the world of finance" - the market itself, which is, according to Dr. Bernstein, the best advisor available.
   
   Dr. Bernstein concludes his book by applying lessons learned from these four pillars and giving readers practical advice for how to construct their own portfolios. Although this section fell short of answering all my questions, the book as a whole serves as an essential investing guide in providing investors with a basic framework to use in evaluating the myriad of investing choices available. As even Dr. Bernstein concedes, "Four Pillars of Investing" is not an all-encompassing book on investing. It is not the only book you will need to read, and it is probably not the first investing book you should read, but it is nonetheless a book every investor should read.



3. William Bernstein has written another must read for the individual investor who wants to chart his own course in the investment world. I was first introduced to this book at a local AAII chapter meeting. Everyone there who had read this book highly recommended it. I suggest reading this book before reading "The Intelligent Asset Allocator" also by the author.Both are excellent books on investing and well worth the time and money spent.



4. Book was shipped fast, and came in great condition. Couldn't ask for anything more



5. Excellent book about history and current investing. Would recommend it to anyone. If you do not know if you are speculating, read this

5 comments about What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures.

1. This book goes over many methods to make an informed decision. I would reccomend this to a person that really wants to know different ways to analyze your deals. Very informative.



2. "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know about Cash Flow" is the definitive guide to understanding critical calculations that will help you to determine if a prospective acquisition target is a great deal to buy immediately or a horrible investment to avoid like the plague!
   
   I've owned this book for years but often find myself referencing this wonderful and well-written manual.
   
   Matthew A. Martinez
   Author of "Investing in Apartment Buildings: Create a Reliable Stream of Income and Build Long-Term Wealth" and "2 Years to a Million in Real Estate"
   www.matthewamartinez.com



3. I have recommended to all of my friends to read the following books in order to shortcut the process and learn what they need to know. I told them this is what I would do if I did it over again. (I have my CCIM, Masters of RE from CU, ULI Development Certificate, NAIOP courses) But in all those, this would be most beneficial and starting here would help in short-cutting the process:
   
   1) What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow - Gallinelli
   
   2) Insider Secrets to Financing Your Real Estate Investments: What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Finding and Financing Your Next Deal - Gallinelli
   
   3) Professional Real Estate Development - 2nd Edition - Peiser
   
   4) Principles of Real Estate Syndication - Friedman
   
   5) Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur - Randel
   
   I have read several other real estate books, but they tend to go way off course. This one tells you practical knowledge shoring up the base/foundation in order to understand more complex issues, but at the end of the day, simplisity will win out.
   
   I think I have probably told at least 10 friends to read these books and they should be part of their "Library" as this will get them where they need to go and understand without practical experience.
   
   I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't think it wasn't great.
   
   I have no relation or affiliation to Frank G, just have read so many books, would like to shortcut the process for other people eager to get there and I love to read other people's reviews on Amazon so I know which ones are useful.
   
   Hope this helps



4. This book is an essential for anyone new, or seasoned, in real estate. You won't find a better summation of how to cast you due dillegence net around any real estate you might want to buy. The style is easy to comprehend, just try reading up on internal rates of return in most of those other books out there! This book is a keeper for doing the numbers in real estate.



5. Why did I not come across this wealth of information before? Anyway, this is an indispensable aid to any RE numbers cruncher, do the maths, due diligence...whatever. When is the latest edition to the other book coming out? Can't wait.

5 comments about Confessions of a Street Addict.

1. James Cramer wrote a great autobiography. I love the show and wanted to learn more about the host. After hearing about this book, I bought it and read it without stopping. Cramer begins with his childhood and describes all the seasons of his life. His time in college, LA and at Goldman Sachs. I enjoyed reading about someone who never quits. There were many times in his life when he could have given up, but he never did. He also shows the importance of having someone in your life who always believes in you no matter what. To me, this novel shows the hard work and grit that are required to become great: whether you are lucky or not.



2. If you like Cramer even a little you will truely enjoy this book. It really helps to understand where he has come from, and how he got to where he is today.....
   I have passed this book along to many and they also loved this easy read. I, too, believe it would make an interesting movie....enjoy.



3. I enjoy watching Cramer's Mad Money tv show, but I had no idea how chaotic his career was before he had the show. I just assumed he made lots of money and everything was hunky dory. It was not, you have to read the story to believe it.



4. This is a great book. I've watched Jim Cramer on television, but never knew the whole story. From his days working as a reporter, to his time at Harvard Law School, on to Goldman Sachs, and eventually his own hedge fund. This is an up close and personal look at one of America's favorite money men. I highly recommend this book.



5. Great book about Jim Cramer's life as a young author to being one of the most powerful wallstreet traders.

1 comments about Guide to Hedge Funds: What They Are, What They Do, Their Risks, Their Advantages (Economist (Hardcover)) (Economist (Hardcover)).

1. A good description of what hedge funds are, what they do, how they make money, how they affect out economy and who runs them.

5 comments about The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics).

1. I found this book to be quite disappointing. Soros talks about his financial investments with extremely dense prose, using some words I think are made up, and thoroughly unenlightening. He relates his "experiments", but they are not real ones in the sense of controlled scientific experiments. graphics annotations are unhelpful, tables of trades unenlightening.
   
   As successful as he was/is, I was excited to get this book, but cannot recommend it at all.



2. I ordered the wrong product and I requested that the order be cancelled. I submitted my request on a Friday. I did not get a response until Monday afternoon. My request was made before the ship date but seller would not cancel. Now I have to go through the trouble of returning it.
   
   Poor communication!!!



3. Soros has written a thoughtful and interesting book.However,there is nothing that is new theoretically.It was all said in a much more detailed and specific form in Keynes's A Treatise on Probability(TP;1921),where uncertainty(Soros's uncertainty principle-see pp.6-10,40) was analyzed mathematically using the variable called the weight of the evidence,w, in chapter 26( the weight of the argument in chapter 6 provided the logical analysis).Keynes used the term uncertainty in the GT to denote the same basic phenomenon applied to decision making involving a significant lack of knowledge and information on (a) investment in long lived durable capital goods subject to technological innovation over time(Daniel Ellsberg's nearly identical concept of ambiguity improves on Keynes's completely original formulation),(b)financial markets, and (c)liquidity preference decisions concerning the amount of liquid assets to hold for speculative purposes.Keynesian expectations are liable to sudden changes because they are not representable by the normal distributions's standard deviation(Risk),which is the basic foundation of E Fama's Efficient Market Hypothesis,Milton Friedman's Monetarism,Robert Lucas's rational expectations,and Prescott and Kydland's real business cycle theory,etc.Keynes's analysis appears in chapter 12,pp.239-241 of chapter 17, and in pp.314-320 of the General Theory(1936;GT).It is interesting to note that Soros's own method of dealing with uncertainty,by using one's instinct and intuition ,is identical to the manner in which it was handled by Keynes.
   
   Practically all of the examples from the financial markets used by Soros to show how his uncertainty principle(the reference to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is defective since the probability distributions are known.What Heisenberg meant by uncertainty was risk.Only one of the two hypothesized probability distributions in Heisenberg's example can exist at any one moment of time) is operationalized could just as easily have been mistaken for Keynes's chapter 12 analysis in the GT.The value in Soros's book is that it provides a more modern set of examples that updates Keynes's chapter 12 analysis of how uncertainty impacts decision making.Risk is a very special case that occurs when there is no uncertainty about the future.Uncertainty automatically makes probability estimates indeterminate.They become intervals.
   Soros will have to be much more specific in the future about his uncertainty principle(reflexivity) so that a reader will be able to differentiate what Soros has done from what Keynes did(one must also mention Frank Knight's and Joseph Schumpeter's contributions in this area,although they are not nearly as specific and technical as the contributions of Keynes and Ellsberg).
   
   
   Soros needs to be devote much more time to reading and digesting Keynes's works.The few one liners that refer to Keynes in this book illustrate that Soros has not done all of his homework yet.A clear cut comparison -contrast between Keynes and Soros would allow a reader to decide what is original in Soros's approach and what is merely a variation on Keynes's theme of uncertainty impacting many of the most important financial and investment decisions that will determine the future.



4. Honestly this book was hard to follow and I'm still not sure how Soros does it. He is an excellent thinker but I think this book was over the top for me.



5. How to become a billionaire? don't look here. In the end Soros provides no cookbook ways to become a billionaire. He is very intuitive and that ultimately determines his success. In the book, Soros documents his investment experience as if each is a scientific experiment. The price movement ultimately determines if his theory is correct. If he is wrong he dumps his investment. Extreme discipline. Most of us claim the market (or Mr. Market as Buffet says) is wrong and over time we will be right. Soros claims that price makes its own realities. The way he uses leverage is also a mystery at times he appears to be completely un-leveraged - rare in the hedge fund world.
   
   The only gold in the book is his discussion of feed back loops. This I feel is so relevant to today's financial and real estate crisis. In a rising housing environment Loan to Value ratios go down, this creates success for the lender. The desire to loan is high and the supply of available money drives up prices further feeding this loop. In a declining real estate model the loan to value ratio increases exposing the lenders risk making it undesirable to lend no matter what the interest environment. The lender is stuck he can hope that his loan portfolio will be paid down or he can sell them for a loss in the open market. With loans hard to find and lenders wanting more money and higher qualifications from borrowers this assures there will be fewer buyers (buyers market). This feeds the downward loop with loan to value ratios rising even more as prices fall.

5 comments about Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom.

1. If you are looking for trading recipies, this is NOT the book for you. This books describes the trading process in an open approach, whithout selling speaches, trading formulas or magical enchaments. It describes the importance of risk management of your trades, and the pshycology and biases that are part of every system. Though general, the offered information serves both from what someone would call academic understanding, and the practical side of trading. The book is not academic though, as you will not see tons of equations, proofs, or algorithms.
   I think it is a must for everone that does not want to jump into trading someone elses formulas, but to understand the mechanics and the psycology of trading. It contains references to other books that will help you understand the trade reciepies.
   So if you want to understand what you are doing, or at least what you are supposed to do and the biases associated to your decisions, buy the book. If you want to trade like a maniatic daredevil who is told what to do by following nonsense schemes, you dont need this book.
   No wonder why some readers were dissapointed. My impression, its the readers fault not to aim to higher goals while buying and reading a trading book.



2. I think this book is over-rated. You can find better information in other books. For example, Alexander Elder's "Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management," and William O'Neil's "How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, 3rd Edition." Both books are good and easy to read.



3. Essential reading for any budding trader from any planet.
   Find out why trading is exactly 100% psychological.
   If you harbour any other point of view, read this, you must.
   
   Cheers, Yoda.



4. The authors tried to cover many aspect of trading, from technical, fundamental, psychology,... he comes with a lot of information that bring nothing to your trading. He explain very simple thing in a complicate manner, sometime not easy to understand. I think he doesn't know much about trading and all his writing is from the conversation with others (limited) trader. If you are looking to learn about trading and want start to trade it is not a recommendation, you may try to read what Alexander Elder wrote for example. Anyhow, you don't need to buy them, you can download for free the E-Book using P2P such emule...



5. An extremely fun and exciting read when it comes to books on trading. This book more than met my expectations. It will guide you to define your expectations and goals for trading in a very simple, clear and concise manner. This book should be required reading for any and all traders, beginners or advanced alike. It is perfectly outlined with simple steps and guidelines and then summarized at the end of each chapter. Should be read by all so called "trading gurus" as well.