The Real Estate Industry has high entry barriers making it imperative to study the market thoroughly. Fortunately, there are multiple resources to do just that. Books are an excellent resource to absorb knowledge from those at the peak of the industry decades or even centuries ago with keen insights and strategies to help climb the ladder faster.

Whether you are a Real Estate Investor or a Realtor yourself, here are 4 must-read books if you are in the field of Real Estate:

1. The Millionaire Real Estate Investor

Summary: An instrumental book in Real Estate is The Millionaire Real Estate Investor. The book was published in 2005 and ranked among the top ten real estate investment and leadership training books in the world.

The author, Gary Keller of Keller Williams, interviewed over 100 millionaire real estate investors to learn key strategies that are critical for success from previously successful investors. The book also comes highly recommended by Joshua Fraser, CEO of Estated.

Why You Should Read It: The author, Gary Keller, has distilled and organized the core principles and practical strategies that can be used to ace your real estate investments.

2. The Book On Estimating Rehab Costs

Summary: In this book, all costs are broken down into 20+ categories with associated (and expected) labour/materials expenses. The book highlights the actual cost associated with Real Estate Investing rather than just rapidly moving through topics.

Every property is unique and can come with hidden costs; having a well-rounded knowledge about all property costs can be the make-or-break difference. The book also comes highly recommended by Bill Lyons, CEO of Griffin Funding, Greendoor, & Revestor.

Why You Should Read It: In the book, the author, J Scott revealed the tried-and-tested methods of his professional framework and his methodology for precisely evaluating renovation costs from hundreds of his successful rehab projects.

3. How To Win Friends And Influence People

Summary: An excellent book to learn how to communicate effectively and influence others to put their best foot forward in business relationships. The book gives keen insight into human emotions and how to use them to your advantage. Real Estate is a sector that is founded on relationships and networking, making it imperative to nurture meaningful relationships. A realtor can have all the technical acumen, but you will have limited success in real estate if you can’t communicate your ideas clearly. The book is also highly recommended by Spencer Hilligoss, Co-Founder of Madison Investing.

Why You Should Read This Book: The author, Carnegie’s extensive teaching experience has led him to explain the most fundamental principles in life using relevant examples. Furthermore, he links them to major events and public figures, using them as case studies to draw these conclusions.

4. Who Moved My Cheese?

Summary: A great read for the circumstances the world is currently facing with the advent of COVID-19. The real estate sector was initially one of the hardest-hit sectors globally. Who Moved My Cheese? offers great insights to deal with change and strengthen the muscle of adaptability in everyday life.

The book narrates a fable about a mouse in a maze and sets the tone for how important adaptability and openness are to bring about real growth in life. With the ever-changing global realty market, this is one concept that is very familiar to realtors across the world. This easy and fun read will help put things into perspective and prepare you for all of life’s surprises. This book is highly recommended by Michelle Risi, Royal LePage Connect Realty

Why You Should Read It: Change is inevitable; this book puts things into perspective about how we need to prepare and adapt to situations quickly. If we fail to do so, another company will seize the opportunity like in the case of Blockbuster, the network giant who was content with their market share until Netflix came along and left them in shambles.

Conclusively, using these lessons in the world of realty is bound to give you an edge over the others.

As Christopher Morley, American Journalist said, “When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue — you sell him a whole new life.”