The Real Book of Real Estate

Welcome to my The Real Book of Real Estate book summary!

“There will always be a real estate market. In a civilized world, a roof over your head is as essential as food, clothing, energy, and water.” (p. 1)

“I’m not a genius. I’m just a tremendous bundle of experiences.” – Dr. R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller

One-Sentence-Summary: Although geared towards larger, team-based real estate projects, the individual investor, with the expectation of some chapters, can still gain much knowledge from this valuable book by the famous Robert Kiyosaki, including a chapter by his wife and Donald Trump.

The book is a little dated with sentences like ‘Another definite trend of the future – if you’re not already using it – is using the power of the Internet.” (p. 290)

I finished reading The Real Book of Real Estate by Robert Kiyosaki.

booboo real-time book rating: ★★★☆☆ (percentage of books with this rating: 31%)

Your real estate team could include:

• Real Estate Broker
• Appraiser
• Lawyer
  • setup legal entities; draft leases; property closing and title issues; federal, state, and local laws; contacts
• Tax Accountant/CPA
• (Landscape) Architect
• Interior Designer
• General Contractor
• Handyman
• Lender/Mortgage Broker
  • can choose the appraiser, or you can suggest one to use. Choose an appraiser with experience in the type of property you are buying. You would use a mortgage broker for larger deals or if you have bad credit; they essentially source various lenders
• Title company
  • title insurance, can also research comparables
• Third Party Reports Review
  • Environmental (soil composition, hazardous materials phase 1 report for $2.5k), Property Conditions (structural issues, roofs, asphalt, sewer, other building systems plus useful life), Appraisals, and Market Study (for larger or complex projects, expensive)
• Property Management Company
• During Problems:
  • Mediator – For when conflicts arise and to avoid litigation
  • Arbitor

Useful website from the book:

• https://fsbo.com/
• https://www.realtor.com/
• https://netronline.com/ – search public records for real estate

Tom Wheelwright; The Business of Real Estate

• Quickbooks tip: create a ‘class’ for each property in one QBs chart of accounts/company
• hist company is https://www.provisionwealth.com/ or https://www.wealthability.com/ (mentioned in Tax-Free Wealth)
• Generally, create an LLC taxed as a partnership or sole proprietorship for your real estate

Charles W. Lotzar; A Real Estate Attorney’s View of Assembling and Managing Your Team

• If your lawyer is not bringing solutions with problems, find a new one
• Use form B181 from the American Institute of Architects

You are reading my book review and summary by Robert Kiyosaki. Be sure to check out my digital bookshelf for 100+ book summaries.

Garret Sutton; 10 Rules for Real Estate Asset Protection

The whole thing with asset protection is ‘oh, if you don’t have it then someone could get access to all your assets..but is that really who it works? In which situations would a court give a victim access to all my assets of say, 2M or 3M? Are we really protecting something is even remotely likely to happen? If someone slips and falls, a common example, does that really give them reasonable access to all my assets if they’re not protected? All this protecting seems quite cumbersome and irrelevant because courts and “pierce” these formaitons if they deem it fit. So can’t they also do the opposite, not give a victim all my assets for a slip and fall. Thsi is not addressed in this book nor any other book I’ve read on asset protection so far.

• Insurance is never a complete asset protection strategy; it is the first line of defense
• Avoid joint tenancies and tenants in common (with one exception) for titles
• Never hold real estate in a C Corporation
• Living Trusts offer no asset protection
  • However with both you can avoid probate (LLC) and get asset protection (living trust)
• Land trusts offer privacy but not asset protection
• LLCs and LPs are great for asset protection due to charging orders
• Author and American Bar Association does not recommend a Series LLC (this book was published in 2009)
• To form an entity you need meeting minutes, membership certificates, and an operating agreement
• Use a grant deed when transferring the property, but it’s ideal to have the LLC setup upon purchase so the title can be directly in the name of the entity.

Bernie Bays; How to Avoid and Handle Real Estate Disputes

• Clearly specify and limit remedies in a contract.
  • “Specific performance’ is an equitable remedy that gives the buyer the right to legally compel the seller to sell the property to the buyer upon the terms in the contract. As a seller, if you cannot completely negotiate out speciicc performance, yo uwant to limit it as much as possible.
• Add a provision requiring mediation before arbitration or litigation
  • In recent years, arbitration is unclear as to weather it is better than litigation

Did you know I’m an author? I wrote four books on real estate investing, travel, and language learning.

Carleton H. Sheets; No Down Payment

• Use the seller’s first name while negotiating
• Add non-essential contingencies that you can negotiate away at a later date, like furniture, even if you don’t want it.
• Make multiple offers at once (cash at a deep discount, seller-financing, traditional)
• Be present when the seller presents the offer, if possible
• Use a Letter of Intent which is not a binding contract but communicates the buyer’s intent to make an offer to acquire the property to easily kick off negotations

Thanks for visiting and thanks to Robert Kiyosaki for writing The Real Book of Real Estate!