THE SMART INVESTOR'S GUIDE TO REAL ESTATE

by Robert Bruss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1981

Still another pitch for the rewards of leveraged real-estate investment--with much less to say about the potential risks. Bruss, at least, doesn't lack credentials: he's a real-estate columnist (for the Chicago Tribune-New York News syndicate) and a licensed realtor, with degrees in business administration and law. Focusing on income properties--commercial as well as residential--he makes an intelligible, if debatable, case for such holdings as a hedge against inflation. Reviewed in detail are: the tax benefits of ownership (e.g., credits for energy-saving installations); techniques for locating propitious properties (""community newspapers often have special bargain ads"" by cost-conscious do-it-yourself sellers); and methods for getting started with a short bankroll (even by using a big-ticket item like a recreation vehicle as a down payment). Bruss also adeptly clarifies the intricacies of the real-estate money game: depreciation, recapture, points, tax-deferred exchanges, etc. Included in each chapter is Q & A material culled from his correspondence with readers--much of which addresses matters of pocketbook as well as investment interest. Other inserts, though, are obvious setups--a chance for Bruss to extol, yet again, the advantages of, e.g., lease-option contracts. But it's his premises that are most open to question. First, that housing prices are on an endlessly upward track (the record of the last 18 months indicates otherwise). Second, that creative-finance systems are not imperiled by today's high interest rates and tomorrow's uncertainties. Budding property magnates of a cautionary mind will be better served by Robert L. Nessen's The Real Estate Book (p. 337). This is for born gamblers.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION