A useful overview of property investment opportunities.
Currie offers a primer on the basics of real estate investing.
In his first book, Landlord by Design (2016), the author, a real estate investor and landlord, tackled residential property management. This second work goes into what it takes to be successful at property investment. Instead of focusing on a few strategies in that area, however, Currie paints with a broad brush; the book’s brief, easy-to-read chapters touch on virtually every type of real estate investment vehicle, including room rentals, vacation rentals, house flipping, condominium investing, land purchases, fractional ownership, and others. A particularly low-risk strategy, Currie says, is “house hacking,” which he describes as “buying a property, living in part of it, and renting out the rest.” The book also includes useful information about key fundamentals, such as securing mortgages, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, bankers, and insurance. The book’s 36 chapters are short and to the point, and Currie is careful to present balance, assessing risks and benefits. When discussing real estate location, for example, the author offers a solid list of “main points to remember when looking at the economy of an area.” In a chapter concerning vacation rentals, Currie includes “common risks” as well as valuable tips on what questions to ask prospective vacation renters. In an intriguing discussion of “zero-down real estate investing,” he shares his own experience and provides seven ways to invest without making a down payment. Some topics, such as joint venture deals, syndication, and crowdfunding may extend beyond the capabilities of the average real estate investor, and because of the abbreviated format, the book addresses these subjects as well as others in only a cursory manner, so additional investigation will likely be required. The prose style is informal and breezy, and Currie seamlessly weaves his investing experiences into the chapters, with relevant examples and lots of bulleted lists. Still, readers should be aware that these experiences are mostly limited to the Canadian real estate market, and although his observations and suggestions may be broadly applicable, prospective real estate investors must take local regulations into account.
A useful overview of property investment opportunities.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2022
ISBN: 9780995303706
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Beachrock Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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