Product Description

Take a look through the Forbes annual issue of the richest Americans, and you will find a majority of those personal fortunes have something to do with real estate. Real estate rental income rarely experiences wild swings in value, instead providing predictable returns at many times the rate of money market accounts or CDs. In addition, there can be substantial tax advantages as well. However, being the “landlord” can be difficult, time consuming, and potentially wrought with financial and legal obstacles. This new book will make the process of managing your rental properties easier. This new book and companion CD-ROM will teach you how to avoid headaches, hassles, and lawsuits by learning how to professionally manage your rental property. Maximize your profits and minimize your risks. Learn about advertising, tenant screening, managing tenants, legal rights, landlord rights, discrimination, vacancies, essential lease clauses, crime prevention, drugs, gangs, security issues, as well as premises liability, security deposits, handling problems, evictions, maintenance, recordkeeping, and taxes. The CD-ROM contains dozens of forms, sample contracts, letters, notices, rental applications, agreements and checklists. It includes topics such as evicting irresponsible tenants, collecting damages, running multiple properties, handling complaints, emergency procedures, expenses, and utility management. We spent thousands of hours interviewing and e-mailing real estate property managers and investors. This book is a compilation of their secrets and proven successful ideas. If you are interested in learning hundreds of hints, tricks, and secrets on how to make money (or more money) on managing your rental properties, then this book is for you. Instruction is great, but advice from experts is even better, and the experts chronicled in this book earn $1,000 to $300,000 per month managing rental properties. Inside the pages of this new exhaustively researched guide you will find a jam-packed assortment of innovative ideas that you can put to use today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58286 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
"...this book is chocked full of important considerations before making your decision." -- Susan Gordon, Past president, National Association of Residential Property Managers

"...this book is chocked full of important considerations before making your decision." --Susan Gordon, Past president, National Association of Residential Property Managers

About the Author
Jamaine is a freelance writer that spent more than sixteen years as an Operations Research Systems Analyst for the U.S. Army. Her research skills, combined with knowledge acquired from a good friend who personally acquired, held and managed more than 80 properties at any given time, were used to research and document the material presented in this book.

Customer Reviews

Lacks Real Life Information
I'm a licensed property manager and I like to read at least 1 book each year in my field. I thought this book would be helpful, but for the most part, it was not.

My main complaint is that this book was written by a "writer", not a property manager ... and it shows. The author is just a freelance writer who researched this topic, but you can tell that he/she lacks the real life experience of having been in the business (no matter who endorses the book). This lack of real life experience spills over in many ways including the lack of good forms on the CD. Many property managers can get by without the included forms ... too bad the forms that really are needed are missing.

This book also reads more like a textbook than a practical guide. It's so generic in many places that it doesn't really say anything. And there are even several errors in the book that reflect the author's incompetence. The author even incorrectly says several times that LLC stands for "limited liability corporation" (instead of "company"). This is a common misunderstanding among those getting started in business, but shouldn't be misunderstood by an author claiming authority on a topic.

Overall, this book is too generic in it's information, lacks "real life" information and reads like a textbook that may sound good, but in the end will not be very helpful to most people. I guess the best audience for this book might be someone who is in the process of CONSIDERING owning rental property. But for someone looking for a practical book to help them manage propery, I would look elsewhere.

The Rental Property Manager's Toolbox etc.
greetings! I purchased the CD. It had extensive information. I wanted a
program dealing with accounting for just a few properties. It would be
excellent for someone having a lot of properties. I returned the CD
unopened when I realized it was not want I needed. Amazon kindly gave a
refund.

very good but lacking...
The Rental Property Manager's Toolbox is very well written and a very nearly complete book for new landlords, but not quite. As a new and unwilling landlord this book was a great & definite help in overcoming a very steep learning curve and a great deal of ignorance on my part. But having said that, where's the lease? A number of forms are included but there is no boilerplate lease. Also, on page 152 under credit history no mention is given of any of the numerous websites that one can purportedly get credit information on prospective tenants. I had to take my chances on what I could find out myself and talked to two professional property managers, neither of whom get credit reports either. I had to go to a lawyer software program for 1 or 2 other items as well. A solid 4 star however!