One of my favorite quotes is from a guy named Kevin Trudeau “leaders are readers”.
I do have to admit, I had to practice. I am not the type of person who was born to read for fun. In fact I mostly only read for educational reasons. I still do, so the key factors for me is the information has to be both educational and entertaining. If the information is too technical, I quickly fall asleep, no matter what time of day. When I wrote Landlord by Design – Complete guide to residential property management, I made sure it met my own criteria of what makes a book good.
I made sure to combine practical “how to” information with entertaining stories. I also made sure to show how if you do not follow the practical steps, the outcome can turn into an entertaining story (unfortunately I did not see the entertainment value when I was living these stories).
The other important criteria is, if someone is going to write about events that happened they write the truth. I often read a made up version that is far from the actual events, or the truth is sugar coated.
The books that have captured my interest over the years are quite varied. They could be considered a very random selection. They all played and still do play an important role on my life journey.
I will start with my all time classic favorites:
George Orwell’s – 1984 – You can get it on Amazon – I will have to admit it is a bit twisted, but quite interesting.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s – The Great Gatsby – You can get it on Amazon – I would describe this as a bit intense.
My personal development journey started with these two classics:
Dale Carnegie – How to win friends and influence people – You can get it on Amazon
Napoleon Hill – Think and grow rich – You can get it on Amazon
Great stock market investing books:
Three great books come to mind. I have to admit they are very much theory based, however, great reads
Derek Foster’s – Stop Working – You can get it on Amazon – it is definitively a page turner
David Bach’s – The Automatic Millionaire – You can get it on Amazon – It will keep you awake, easy to understand investment advice.
David Chilton’s – The Wealthy Barber – You can get it on Amazon – there is no question that David Chilton is a marketing genius.
Real Estate Investing and Property Management Books:
My top three authors (other than myself) are Julie Broad, Don R Campbell, and Robert Kiyosaki
I will endorse and highly recommend these three books, if you are just getting into real estate investing or property management:
Real Estate Investing in Canada: Creating Wealth with the ACRE System – Don R Campbell
Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
More Than Cashflow: The Real Risks & Rewards of Profitable Real Estate Investing 1st edition by – Julie Broad
I also want to provide an honorable mention to three other amazing books that I have had the privilege to get to know some of the authors / contributors that tell their stories in these book:
These books could be a great place for you to start your journey on the path to gaining wealth with real estate.
Secret to wealth – a series of stories from several contributors including my friend & local real estate investing celebrity Mike Burgess (check him out). You can purchase it on Amazon.
Doorpreneur – My friend Tony LeBlanc just released this really amazing book about how he built a huge property management / property services business. You can buy it on Amazon.
The Book of Why (and how) – I had the privilege of being a contributor to my friend Corey Poirier’s latest book. You can pick up a copy on Amazon.
Landlord by Design – The complete guide to residential property management – The final book I want to mention is my own. I collected several stories about managing my real estate portfolio. I definitely recommend you buy my book. I think you will enjoy it. You can buy it on Amazon.
Do you want to write a book? Check out this post on how much it will cost you.
Until next time,
Design your landlord experience,
Michael P Currie
Can you recommend any books on rent to own from a seller’s standpoint based in Canada?
Hi Steven, thanks for the comment. Good question. I assume by asking from a sellers standpoint, you may be looking for sellers that would be willing to rent to own a multi family property to you. I am not sure of a particular book, however, it is common to present a form of that type of strategy to sellers who are selling properties in tougher areas, or a personal / market condition that requires a quick sale in an area with limited buyers. The best Canadian book that talks about rent to own as an investment strategy is by Mark Loeffler (Investing in rent to own property). If you are seeking leads on sellers willing to rent to own, I would suggest setting up a profile on http://www.biggerpockets.com (there are lots of Canadian investors doing pretty much every investment strategy) I hope this helps.
Thanks Michael. I was actually looking at it from the opposite perspective – as the owner of the property, looking for rent to own tenants/buyers. I will check out Mark’s book. I am on biggerpockets as well – great resource