The Complete Guide to Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties: How to Analyze Any Single-Family, Multifamily, or Commercial Property »

STEVE BERGES is a real estate investment professional with over twenty-five years of experience. As Principal of Symphony Homes, he is an active investor specializing in creating value through various real estate mechanisms, including single-family houses, multifamily apartment complexes, and the development and construction of single-family and condominium housing communities. He holds an MBA degree in finance and marketing from Rice University. He is also the author of The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings and The Complete Guide to Flipping Properties, both from Wiley.

More and more Americans are getting out of the stock market for the relative safety and predictability of real estate. But buying real estate willy-nilly is a recipe for disaster. If you don’t do your homework, you could lose your shirt–just like you would in the stock market.

For novice investors and old hands alike, The Complete Guide to Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties focuses on the fundamentals of financial analysis and the key principles in property valuation as they apply to real estate investing. This practical guide provides all the tools and tactics investors need to accurately gauge both the present and future value of properties.

Whether they’re buying or selling, investors must base their decisions on the fundamental principles of real estate finance. Failing to do so will definitely mean failing to make a profit. This handy guide doesn’t offer long-winded theories on finance or quick schemes for making a bundle in real estate, but proven real-world knowledge every investor needs to feel secure that they’ve made a wise investment.

This is not another real estate book about how to creatively finance a purchase or get a nothing-down deal. Instead, author Steve Berges explains the basic theories of real estate finance, simplifies them for the average investor, and demonstrates how to use them in real-world situations. Using case studies and examples to illustrate these principles, Berges shows investors how to use traditional property valuation methodologies and how to understand such concepts as cash flow, rate of return, and return on investment. Investors will find everything they need to know about financial statements and schedules, investment performance measurements, the structure of financial instruments, and valuation techniques for any kind of property.

Real estate is only a smart investment if you’re a smart investor. In this book, Steve Berges walks readers step by step through all the financial analysis techniques needed to get the most out of their real estate investments.