I love reading books. I read new books, old books, real estate books, business books and even straight-up horror fiction books! I like reading. We looked back over our blog and realized it had been several years since we made some suggestions for our readers on great business/real estate related books to read.

For passive real estate investors, the first two properties are the most exciting! It’s a time to figure things out. You make a lot of mistakes, learn more than you can ever imagine, and find both the joys and the frustrations of owning passive investment properties. But it’s also not the end—not by far.

Turnkey real estate. Some people hear that word and get excited! Others...skeptical. Truth be told, the concept of turnkey real estate is a little divisive. Many people have had wonderful experiences with great turnkey investment companies, while others still aren’t sure what to make of the whole concept.

No one gives new real estate investors enough credit. It’s a tough gig. There’s so much to do, so much to learn, and there’s so much information to digest that it’s really no wonder that anyone sticks with this crazy business. That’s why we’ve compiled five simple, universal pieces of advice for new real estate investors.

New York, New York. San Francisco, California. Los Angeles, California. Miami, Florida. As real estate investors, we hear the names of these cities and get stars in our eyes. It's hard not to drool over such glamorous markets from time to time. After all, they've got it all: prestige, incredible properties, legendary profits...what's not to love? A lot of things, as it turns out.

For those involved in real estate in any form or fashion, we’ve all noticed how home prices have shifted over the past few years. During the recession, home prices were at an all-time low. Real estate investors jumped on the opportunity to grab at cheap properties and make big profits. But now, in markets across the country, prices have heated back up.

We all know what they say about Texas. And if it’s true anywhere, it’s true in Houston. Houston is the Lone Star state’s most populated city and the fourth largest city in the United States with a census-estimated population of over 2.2 million as of 2014. Constantly attracting millennials, bringing in bright talent and business, Houston is truly a remarkable city. And it’s no less true when it comes to real estate!

Fear can be a powerful motivator. It can also hold us back from being all that we can be. Achieving anything when we’re afraid of moving forward is no easy feat: but making decisions and moving ahead in spite of our fears is often necessary for success!

As with just about everyone, real estate investors can fall prey to hype. While the tried-and-true ways to invest still reign supreme, there are new trends constantly popping up—flavors of the week that don’t last and rarely deliver on their promises. In real estate investment, hype can look like a lot of different things.

We could all stand to be more efficient. Our day-to-day lives are hectic, full of things to get done and a million and one things to keep track of. It can get pretty overwhelming at times!

Many of us are guilty of focusing a little too much on income. Granted, income is important. We have to have money to cover bills, needs and desires and offer life security for ourselves and families. No one is denying that security is very important to our overall wellbeing. Still, though, there’s a point where the trade-off between money and happiness tips in a clear direction. We spend a lot of our waking hours and lives as a whole working. So shouldn’t job satisfaction be a priority?

Real estate investors deal with a lot of numbers and data. They just do! There are a million considerations when looking to purchase a new investment property, or even when assessing the financial condition of a current property. In our information age, where we have so much data at our fingertips, it’s a little too tempting to take data at face value.

New investors, no matter where they’re starting out, have a massive learning curve if they want to be successful. It’s true—there’s a ton to know before you can really dive in. If you want to find success in real estate investment from the get-go without making a lot of costly mistakes, there’s a foundation that must be laid from the very beginning.

Some of the worst advice I have received as a real estate investor was given to me early on in my journey.  As a successful business man, I had decided to turn to real estate as a means of creating a generational impact and building real, long-term wealth.  As I struggled to get started, advice was coming to me from all sides.

Is overanalyzing killing your real estate investment business? There’s nothing wrong with trying to be careful. Believe us, we believe in looking at the numbers. That said, there’s a little something called analysis paralysis that can psyche out the best of us. It can cause you to lose out on deals, delay good decisions, and miss out on great opportunities.

This may be one of the most important articles on real estate you read this week, so pay close attention. Those words are not just hype, either. This is an important topic for my family and our company. We have seen many investors get hurt by purchasing turnkey properties from unscrupulous companies. However, we have seen even more investors get hurt by purchasing from inexperienced companies who use marketing gimmicks to sell their properties.

Investing in real estate can get overwhelming from time-to-time, even for those of us who choose passive investments. There’s still a lot to keep up with: income, expenses, taxes, leads, contacts, research, books, notes...it can all get out of hand if you’re not careful!

Let's talk about a topic that most real estate investors really hate to talk about, think about and sure don't want spend too much time reading about: rental property management!

The real estate market landscape has been changing dramatically in the near-decade since the biggest recession in recent history. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who wasn’t affected by the crash of the housing market in those years.

Investing in real estate is a straightforward venture...in theory. Buy a property, rent out the property, make money off of the rent. Simple, right? Unfortunately, theory isn’t reality.