Reddit mentions: The best real estate books

I would recommend this one. It's a "Dummies" book, but it gives a decent overview of the home buying process and what to expect.

Many books may not discuss buying a home with an SO you aren't married to, and many people in this sub will probably advocate against doing so.

Ultimately, it depends on your relationship and how stable and comfortable the two of you are in it. I bought my home with my SO when we weren't married (he's now my husband of almost 2 years). Originally, our plan was to buy the home together, but my financial situation was actually better than his at the time of purchase, and buying our home alone solely in my name ended up giving us a better interest rate. Even though my name was the sole one on the mortgage, we treated the home as "ours" from day one with the understanding that if we ever did split up, we would split whatever equity we had built. This works for some couples, but not for all.

What you do really depends on your relationship. Having both of you on the mortgage could get messy if you ever split up. One of you (or both of you) would either have to sell the home and then divide up whatever equity you might have, or refinance and then pay the other the cut of their equity. Having only one of you on the mortgage may be easier, and provide more options. You can have your SO pay "rent" to you and have no ownership interest. Another option is to have them straight up pay half of the mortgage payment and treat the home as half theirs. If the two of you were to ever split, you would still compensate your SO for half of the equity that accrued in the home. Whatever route you take, the best thing you can do is make sure that both of you is aware of where things stand. Drafting an agreement might be a good idea as well.

Hi guys. I have recently published a great ebook on real estate investing. The book is invaluable for beginners as well as seasoned real estate investors. The aim of the book is to show investors how to make substantial income via property rental, what the different types of property investments are, how to find the right property, how to find tenants and how to screen your prospective tenants. The book also discusses other topics relevant to being successful at real estate investing such as: the law, accounting, insurance and much more. By the end of the book, you will be in an excellent position to take further action toward earning passive income from real estate. It's currently only $0.99! If you enjoyed the book and received value and benefit from it, I would like to ask you to leave a review. Feel free to share it with anyone who you think might be interested. Thank you very much and I wish you all best.

The first one I read was Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, which was a great introduction. It's short and very easy to get into. You can read it in an afternoon. It's actually from a speech he gave, so you can probably find the audio online for free and listen to it instead if you prefer.

But his best book, in my opinion, is Understanding Power. It's more of a collection of essays, speeches and interviews, but it really shaped my understanding of the world better than any other book I have read. I can't recommend this book enough.

If you're more interested in libertarian socialism, in addition to Understanding Power, read Chomsky on Anarchism. He presents the theories in very clear language, instead of being overly theoretical.

If you're more interested in his writings on US foreign policy, also read either Failed States or Hegemony or Survival.

Enjoy!

There's really no such thing as a "best state" for homesteading. There's just too many factors involved, some of which work against each other, and there's personal preferences also. What's perfect for one person would suck for another. Personally I think most states east of the Mississippi will work just fine--just avoid places with a whole lot of local laws and codes and regulations that will make your life real hard.

And climate is only one small factor among many that you need to consider. Cost of the land? How much can you afford? How will you make a living? Commute to work? How's the local economy? The local government and regulations and fees?

The viability of homesteading can vary a lot not just within a state but also within a single county, or even between adjacent parcels, due to deed restrictions and local conditions such as one property is on a flood plains and the adjacent one isn't. Stuff like that.

Take your time researching all this. No need to hurry. Laws are going to matter, so will land and living costs, and your ability to generate sufficient income in a given area.

I suggest you start with your library and with amazon, look into books on homesteading and on how to find and buy a place in the country.

Two books I particularly like:

How to Find and Buy Your Place in the Country.

and

Country Property Dirt Cheap

"Place" is extremely thorough and detailed, will help you avoid a lot of pitfalls. I found it an overwhelming and somewhat discouraging read, t hough--but it has important information I found in no other book.

"Dirt Cheap" is my favorite of all the "how to move to the country" books. It's an autobiography of a guy who did it, on not a whole lot of money. Talks a lot about his journey, the things he tried, what worked for him what didn't. Fantastic tips. Lots of adventures and surprises--and it left me feeling very heartened and encouraged. He found his place and loves it. He made me feel I could do it too.

And I did. Finally got out of the city for good just a year ago. I researched it for years before I found and got my little piece of paradise. It feels real good.

Here is the deal:

Homes: This is property that you OWN. Or rather, own a part of until you pay off your mortgage. Your mortgage is basically paying the bank bank for THEM buying the home for you. The trick is, YOU are in charge of EVERYTHING. I was told recently by friends you need either one large income or two stable incomes to be able to sustain a household. The stable job/s need to have financial security. To get an idea of the costs, here is a link to my thread with A LOT of useful information:

My thread

I also recommend looking up: [Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home)(http://www.amazon.com/Nolos-Essential-Guide-Buying-First/dp/1413317626)

Regarding renting: You, typically, own NOTHING. However it gives you the freedom to say, "I dont like living here anymore... lets bail." You have the freedom to do whatever you want with NO ties. Owning a coop/condo, different story.

In your case, you need to make some serious financial decisions with your husband. A coop/condo may be your best bet if you cannot stand the thought of renting anymoer and want to own property.

I would say up to about 5-10 years ago, getting a home was a great idea however the costs involved have increased dramatically without the increases in paychecks.

Solid plan. I think this is how a lot of Canadian investors get started.

Whatever province you're in, read the Residential Tenancies Act (or your equivalent) and have a good understanding of it. Even if you're going to eventually hire a property manager, look after the first property yourself so you get a good feel for what you're doing and build some experience.

Always screen all your tenants including getting a credit check. Don't ever, ever, EVER skip the credit check.

If you have clean rental properties in OK areas that are well looked after, you'll have no trouble finding good tenants. Treat them fairly and with respect and you'll minimize (or eliminate) nightmare tenant stories.

When I got started, I read Real Estate Investing in Canada by Don R Campbell. Good little book that's not intimidating. Well worth the $20 investment.

http://www.amazon.ca/Real-Estate-Investing-Canada-Creating/dp/0470158891

• Buy young, build equity, leverage equity later.
  
  
• Depending on the market where you live, you may find total PITI to be only marginally more than what you're paying in rent.
  
  
• Buy something reasonable, and financially comfortable. This doesn't have to your dream home in your dream neighborhood. You can do that later in life. Your home payments shouldn't cause you stress.
  
  
• Ensure you have some kind of plan if something does happen, like the loss of one job.
  
  
• You're young, consider getting a roommate to help reduce your costs. This helps tremendously.
  
  
• Read a book, understand the process before you start. Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home was very helpful for me.
  
  
• Finally, there's a lot of FUD about property ownership, investing in your home, etc. In many situations, it is a great long-term financial decision for a variety of reasons.

Good luck! It's actually a bit of a complicated process, so if you are serious, I recommend grabbing something like this off Amazon. It was super helpful!

I looked into buying a 2-4 unit multi-plex to (a) live in one unit myself, and (b) rent the rest of to cover defray the costs of the mortgage and expenses. This was about 2-3 years ago.

I found that I couldn't make the numbers work. The rent (at the time) rarely managed to cover (1) mortgage, (2) taxes, (3) insurance, etc. This was including treating the unit I lived in as income that I 'pay myself' (or rather the fictional 'property company').

Of course rents have gone up since I last did the math, but so have prices (and recently mortgage rates).

Run the numbers yourself; a book I found informative:

• https://www.amazon.ca/Real-Estate-Investing-Canada-Creating/dp/0470158891
  
  If you're okay with a monthly loss, hoping to 'flip' at some point in the future via property values (and higher rents), then go ahead. But if you want to at least break-even cashflow-wise, things aren't as rosy AFAICT.
  
  If someone has made the numbers work in the GTA, please PM me, as I'd love to know how.
  

I'd recommend reading a few books. Before I got started, I found these particularly helpful:
Sell with Soul by Jennifer Allan
21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me by Frank Cook
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller- everyone swears by this one, but I didn't find it that helpful.

Good Luck

Here's a good starter book:

https://www.amazon.com/Crushing-Apartments-Commercial-Real-Estate-ebook/dp/B01N6DKA10/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499651167&sr=8-1&keywords=crushing+it+in+apartments+and+commercial+real+estate

Commercial real estate is where the big boys/girls play. Houses are nice but take too much time when you have a number of them. Typically you can only do so much to increase their value. In commercial real estate you can dramatically increase the value of properties by reinvesting in them properly.

Bantu Biko once wrote the following words:

> Black Consciousness seeks to show the black people the value of their own standards and outlook. It urges black people to judge themselves according to these standards and not to be fooled by white society who [sic] have white-washed themselves and made white standards the yardstick by which even black people judge each other

I know this might seem irrelevant. However, if you look at the article the author seems to compare African countries to the West and some countries in Asia. This, on its own, is not a problem. However, in such endeavours one cannot ignore the culture, history and what goes on in these countries. For instance, on the Zimbabwe issue, I am currently reading Zimbabwe's Land Reform: Myths and Realities and things are not as simple as this guy makes it seem. They are actually becoming more complicated with the current drought that is facing both Zim and South Africa.


I didn't want to judge this man from this one article so I decided to Google his other articles to get a sense of the type of person he is.

I came across the following:

> There are indeed some "clever" blacks who think they are better; but, in reality, they are simply ignorant

> Successful black people don"t buy books. White people know this. When they plan shopping malls for black communities, they do not include book shops.

> if the "clever" blacks are serious about their claim of superiority, why have they accepted Mercedes Benz as a symbol of prestige?

All of the above statements are just from one article.

African countries have issues, one cannot deny that. For instance, Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
paints a beautiful and scary picture about certain leaders in African states. However, this man obviously still needs to learn about himself and about the continent. I see why he appeals to certain people here though. I see where he is coming from, however, his reasoning worries me.

That's a good list, BUT they should be secondary reading, sure you can get insights from them that can relate to any type of investing but you want to be RE specific right? Here is a list I would look into.

Private Real Estate Investment: Data Analysis and Decision Making

Real Estate Finance & Investments

Multifamily Housing Development Handbook

Real Estate Market Analysis: Methods and Case Studies, Second Edition

The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings

How to Pay Little or No Taxes on Your Real Estate Investments: What Smart Investors Need to Know

Investing in Real Estate

Real Estate Investing, Cash Flows, and Due Diligence: Making Better Investment Decisions (Volume 2)

What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures

That's a lot, also info in those books may over lap so pick which ones you would want to answer your specific questions. Hope this helps.

Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Estimating-Rehab-Costs-BiggerPockets/dp/0988973715

You can probably check it out from the library. You don't need all of it, just skip to the chapter on writing a Statement of Work. It will help you communicate with your contractor, and greatly reduce the chance of overages (but you should still plan for them of course).

Other than that, the best thing you can do is network a bit to find an awesome contractor.

Might I then recommend Dirt Cheap Property

It's a pretty good resource for figuring all this out, and some of his ideas, like talking to local farmers if they have land they might parcel off, might be up your alley. As noted by another commenter, landwatch.com is also a good resource.

Mortgage Loan Secrets: How to get a Mortgage in Less than 30 days

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QMJLM6T

FREE until April 25th

> Most buyers are unfamiliar with the process of getting a loan or mortgage and what it really takes to get approved.

>This book covers mortgage basics, what is a good credit score, and what are the four c’s of getting a loan. What is the loan process, what is the difference between a preapproval and being prequalified. What documents will my loan officer need and what should I be doing while in process.

>And more.

I enjoyed reading Beat the bank as an intro to mortgages and what to look out for: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/099385513X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Haven't read this one but the reviews are pretty good: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MZCG926/?coliid=IOPLWJZG3Y032&colid=X9MXFRGDM1J9&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

i cannot recommend this book more highly, yes it is old, but it is very straightforward and gives great answers to all of the questions you are asking and more....send me a pm if interested

http://www.amazon.com/Turned-into-Million-Estate-Spare/dp/0671253689

Postcolonial land restitution and redistribution schemes in former settler colonies are a related but somewhat special case to the ones indicated above. In the cases of Zimbabwe and South Africa (the ones I know best) there are two issues at work: first, figuring out what the original title to the land was; second, figuring out whether or not that title was uprooted in a way one might consider "just." John Weaver talks about this in The Great Land Rush and the Making of the Modern World 1650-1900 (2003), a very valuable book if you haven't read it. The case of Zimbabwe arguably went south so quickly because the colonial-era landholders dragged their feet on redistribution to the point that they became the first target for Mugabe when he came under pressure from rural agitation. He could paint them as the problem, and people would agree with him, because they were always the problem, right? The redistribution was handled haphazardly and with very little concern for accuracy or proper claims determination as you know, with a lot of big estates handed over to cronies who might sublease parts or simply do nothing with them. A fair bit of land was however put in the hands of families, but they did not have the inputs or the institutional support to make the land produce, even if they had the knowledge. South Africa's been a better case so far, but everyone eyeballs Zimbabwe for differing reasons. Jocelyn Alexander, The Unsettled Land (2006), is essential reading for the fraught history of land in Zimbabwe since 1893. She's got another study coauthored that's coming out this year, on the Fast Track program itself. You can also see Ian Scoones, ed., Zimbabwe's Land Reform: Myths and Realities (2010) for some more specific discussion. Cherryl Walker and a variety of others are working on the issues surrounding land in South Africa, which I also study (the 1800s alienation end, not the restitution end) but I don't want to belabor that literature here. It's a moving target.

[Edit: Added links.]

> Truth be told if the government didn't mandate the construction of affordable housing there wouldn't be as much as there is.

I'm going to disagree pretty vehemently with you on this one. In fact the opposite is true. When price controls are put in, it is usually in response to the rising prices caused by government restrictions. The price controls seek to remedy the symptoms without addressing the cause and in fact make prices go even higher. How is that possible? Because luxury apartments are exempt from price controls, and since contractors and landlords can't make any money at all on apartments that have price controls on them, they don't build new units at all, even when the regulations wouldn't prohibit them from doing so. Check out this book. It goes into detail as to why there hasn't been a new non-luxury apartment complex built in NYC since the 1970's and it's all because of the rent controls put into place. You can't make money on apartments if you're not allowed to do at least one of the following:

• 1. Build tall (more units)
     
• 2. Small rooms (more units)
     
• 3. Charge more (expensive apartments)
     
     NYC has effectively outlawed all three scenarios. There are height restrictions, room volume minimum requirements, and of course, price controls. They have eliminated any incentive to build new apartments there. But since luxury apartments are exempt (since you don't want only cheap housing for obvious reasons), they are the only ones that get built.

I endorse all of those comments.

• Credits checks are only $25-40 once you jump through some hoops. I've had 2 friends leave the business (sold their places) after renting to strings of bad tenants that they refused to credit check ("$25 is too much"). I've rejected seemingly great people who clearly had unpaid rent/evicts on their credit reports.
  
  
• For a quick reference for laws and basic forms check out this book. Once again I'll note that most cities and towns have their own idoicentenratic bylaws.

​

>In MA, you would need the sherif to personally serve the tenant with the eviction notice.

I first had to purchase the Summons and Complaint form from the district court, fill it out (including a very precise and critical series of dates) and yes, hire a sheriff to serve it. You can't have it served until the tenancy has been properly terminated. That can happen via any of the various Notice-To-Quits, or as in my case, the tenancy automatically terminated because it was a fixed-term lease with a specified end date.

Once the form is served, I collect a copy from the sheriff and bring it back to the court with the Notice-To-Quit (or lease) and pay the fees to enter it into record. The tenant then has a period during which they can file an Answer, request discovery, request a delay or change the venue. After that we go to court.

​

> It sucks, but you can’t cash those checks either.

Are you aware of a law or statute that makes that clear? Do you mean ever? The wording in the Reservation of Rights letter (which comes from Landlord's Legal Guide in Massachusetts) certainly makes it seem like recovering that money is not out of the question, as long as it is done correctly.

​

Thank you

I'm a libertarian urbanist, and the rank and file libertarians hate the morgage interest deduction, zoning laws, urban renewal, government subsidized highways, and other sprawl creating policies.

Good book on free market urbanism:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Slaughter-Cities-Renewal-Cleansing/dp/1587317753

http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Cities-Revitalizing-Centers-American/dp/0738201340/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714503&sr=1-1&keywords=wealth+of+cities

http://www.amazon.com/Zoned-Out-Regulation-Transportation-Metropolitan/dp/1933115157/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714530&sr=1-1&keywords=zoned+out

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Lot-Real-Estate-Came/dp/B005Q69JJQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714545&sr=1-1&keywords=our+lot

http://www.amazon.com/Snob-Zones-Fear-Prejudice-Estate/dp/0807001570/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714560&sr=1-1&keywords=snob+zones

http://www.amazon.com/Financial-Fiasco-Infatuation-Ownership-Afterword/dp/1937184412/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714575&sr=1-1&keywords=financial+fiasco

http://www.amazon.com/Housing-Bias-Rethinking-Diverse-America/dp/0230110509/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714629&sr=1-1&keywords=the+housing+bias

http://www.amazon.com/Triumph-City-Greatest-Invention-Healthier/dp/159420277X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714641&sr=1-1&keywords=triumph+of+the+city

http://www.amazon.com/Reckless-Endangerment-Outsized-Corruption-Armageddon-ebook/dp/B004H1TM1G/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403714658&sr=1-1&keywords=reckless+endangerment+gretchen+morgenson

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rent-Too-Damn-High-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO
Their are a lot more.

http://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking/dp/1884829988/ref=sr_1_1?s=textbooks-trade-in&ie=UTF8&qid=1405054547&sr=1-1&keywords=the+high+cost+of+free+parking

Yes, I have several rental properties. You make money in RE by mortgage pay down, property appreciation and monthly cash flow. If you want to invest in RE in Canada, I would strongly recommend this book.

This is a good book to read.

How To Be A Landlord: The Definitive Guide to Letting and Managing Your Rental Property https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993497225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Wm7QCb2TZWJZZ

Good luck!

This is a huge problem in many parts of the US, with San Francisco being ground zero.

This book talks about it at a fairly high level: https://www.amazon.com/Rent-Too-Damn-High-Matters-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO

There is evidence that the lack of access to places like SF is costing the economy billions if not trillions of dollars: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21154

Groups like http://www.strongtowns.org/ and http://marketurbanism.com/ have some good ideas as to what to do about it: build more housing in such a way that it's not just sprawl, but making efficient use of existing city land.

Bend is full of huge parking lots and empty land even in some very desirable parts of town.

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.0497109,-121.3271061,3a,75y,105.18h,82.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sp3JB7Enu0sIXs-NIBHmFBA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 is on the west side, where housing is going for a ton of money. What a waste!

Incidentally, are you the same josefek that was on the Fishbone mailing list?

There's a lot of things you should learn and be ready for when the time comes to buy the house.

Learn about the whole buying process, from house hunting, offers, conditions etc. Also you should learn about mortgages and brokers so you get the best one for your situation.

Check out this book on mortgages

Beat the Bank: How to win the mortgage game in Canada

When going in for viewings, always look for problems. Don't get drawn into the good things. Sellers do their best to hide the problems with the house, you should be looking for those problems.

If you're in a hot market, you're likely to lose on your first few offers. Competition is fierce, people will waive inspections and any other shit just to get the house. Do what makes you comfortable. When we bought ours, I waived inspection, but I had an inspector come with me during a walkthrough. It wasn't a detailed inspection, but it was enough for me to feel confident in the house. The issues it had were minor things I can do myself.

I don't have a specific answer but with your financial profile you can definitely do it. I highly recommend you read Crushing It. He goes through lots of scenarios for evaluating and doing deals.

On the triplex question, you mainly want to focus on 20% downpayment and getting a debt service coverage ratio of at least 1.25.

Also, check out BiggerPockets.com. They have tons of articles about how to do these kinds of deals.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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"The high cost of land in urban areas is one of the primary reasons that we can’t “build our way out” of the current crisis by slashing regulations and giving huge tax breaks to private developers, like a lot of liberals and conservatives claim. The only way for developers to make good profits in this circumstance is to invest in high-end housing whose sale or rents will make them profits beyond the massive costs of land, materials, and labor for construction. The only way to engineer affordability in this kind of housing market is for governments to heavily subsidize capitalist developers and landlords. Wouldn’t it just make more sense for governments to cut out the middleman and construct or finance that housing themselves, pledging to provide it at affordable rates to anyone who wants it?"


https://jacobinmag.com/2018/11/capitalism-affordable-housing-rent-commodities-profit?fbclid=IwAR1_-S0z2Nufvt44BAs-B4stGBh8IBIcjvzyVjs4amO0kIKnwCZUVeNpSXs

It isn't "our culture", it's the regulatory structure.

It doesn't take a decision of "Americans as a people" to keep dense housing from being built in urban commercial centers. Land that is near places where people work has a great deal of value as a place for said people to live. All that is required is that it be legal to build appropriate housing and developers will do the rest. And if they can't, they'll make suburbs instead.

I'm glad this was posted and glad to see Krugman drawing attention to this; I think this applies hugely to Vancouver and Toronto. Both cities are astonishingly spread out, with huge swathes dedicated to single family homes. There is no lack of space in our cities, merely numerous restrictions which prevent building. Vancouver in particular has highly motivated NIMBYs who have successfully made any development a bureaucratic minefield and oppose any development which is approved anyways. While foreign money is frequently blamed, low vacancy rates and low inventory suggest that this housing shortage is a problem of not enough supply. Notably Montreal suffers much less from high housing costs and rents. I believe this is partly due to lower population growth, but also to much more willingness to build. High inventories have been pushing condo prices in Montreal down over the last year.

Furthermore, in the modern service economy, housing is arguably the most important form of capital and is currently a major factor in rising wealth inequality.

Further reading:

The Rent is Too Damn High

Overview from the Economist

Buy this book (Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home ) and read it cover-to-cover. I read another book by them specific to the state I live in now after buying two homes in another state. It was a good review and a good resource. Worth the money.

https://www.amazon.com/Nolos-Essential-Guide-Buying-Guidel/dp/1413323456/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1521695334&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+buy+a+house+nolo

In other words, we should raise the cost of building additional supply. Which will ensure that some additional supply at the margin won't get built. Which means the overall cost of housing will be higher than it would be otherwise. We keep raising the cost of building new units, then we're shocked—shocked!—at high costs.

Brilliant reasoning, folks.

You can't mandate affordable housing. We tried that in the US in the 60s and 70s. What actually works is loosening of zoning restrictions and barriers to density in order to profitably and rapidly expand the housing stock. Unless you want to fully nationalize real estate and construction, you have to have policies that enable profitable construction and careful shepherding of restrictions so that they protect clean and functional living space, but do not place arbitrary limits that drive up housing costs, as is the case in most "liberal" cities.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/The-Rent-Too-Damn-High-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO

http://www.amazon.com/Triumph-City-Greatest-Invention-Healthier/dp/0143120549

http://www.amazon.com/The-Gated-City-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B005KGATLO

> Things are objectively worse under Mugabe

Have you considered not reading just Nazi media outlets?

>owing to his having a retard-level IQ

When Nazis like you say shit like this, do they not stop to consider the implications? When Nazis believe that some societies have an average IQ of 50, which would indicate that most people in said society couldn't even tie their own shoelaces, do they stop to consider how it could be possible that people who can't tie their own shoelaces do anything at all? Could it be that IQ measures something other than intelligence much better than it measures intelligence?

>After he did persecute the whites like you're suggesting, he invited them back because he forgot that no one knew how to run the farms efficiently. China you can certainly make a case for, India even, but there is no world except yours where a Zimbabwe is better than a Rhodesia.

Maize production last year was higher than it ever was in Rhodesia. You should read something other than whatever Nazi media outlets you usually read.

The key idea is not that tall buildings automatically result in low rents. It's that more buildings (including more tall buildings when all the land has been used up) will lower rents. So New York should also allow more building, for the exact same reason.

The reason rents are so high is that lots of people want to live in London and New York and regulations (and local neighborhood groups) prevent developers from building enough housing for all of them. Some of the regulations are worth it! Historic preservation, maintaining historic views, etc. really are worth something. But they're not free. Residents pay for it in higher rents. And people who want to move there but can't afford it pay for it in being locked out.

The concept is laid out in better writing and with more evidence in two short e-books on the subject (not written by me) here and [here](http://www.amazon.com/Gated-City-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B005KGATLO/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1396795981&sr=1-2&keywords=the+rent+is+too+damn+high "this guy now writes for The Economist").

This is probably not as good as Gov. Brown's "Right of" housing proposal, and it's not as good as simply legalizing the building of units in which people want to live, but I don't want to let the enemy of the better be the perfect.

> But if the World Bank (and let's throw in the IMF and WTO as well, if you like) never existed, global poverty would be mostly unchanged. I'm open to being wrong about this, but I haven't even seen anyone lay out the argument that these institutions are primarily responsible for the persistence of global poverty.

Well, from a geostrategic point of view, the structural purpose of the World Bank and IMF - and debatably the entire Bretton Woods economic system - was to facilitate the continuation of traditional international power inequities in the post-World War II world. For American planners at the close of World War II, their country had leapfrogged over the declining European powers to become, by far, the most wealthy and powerful country on Earth. Invariably, they wanted to supplant those traditional European powers in their respective colonies and spheres of influence to become the dominant actor themselves, but - as the American political tradition has largely frowned upon overt imperialism - they needed to do it in a way that meshed with the liberal political culture of their society, as well as with their liberal propaganda about democracy and "free" markets. Herein lies the strategic purpose of the World Bank and IMF, at least in terms of their predatory relationship to the former European colonies (what we might today call "the 3rd world"). You can get pretty specific overviews of World Bank/IMF structural adjustment programs, as well as their strategic purpose, by reading Dilemmas of Domination by Walden Bello, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, and Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky.

I hope I've helped illuminate this issue a bit, but really, nobody here should be surprised to learn about how this works; this is very basic realpolitik.

EDIT: I should note that in recent decades, the process of globalization has ushered in a remarkably different economic and political order from that of the Bretton Woods system, but that's a rather different discussion.

Pl read. Worth the money

Beat the Bank: How to win the mortgage game in Canada https://www.amazon.ca/dp/099385513X/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_api_i_CU4PDb51J7ZCP

There are a couple big boy words in here, but if you want to actually know what you're talking about you should read Living in the Shadow of the Eagle. Or if you really want to stretch that pea brain of yours, I recommend Hegemony or Survival.

But seeing as you're just a right wing loon desperately trying to justify US Imperialism, I doubt you'll read either and just call me some derivative of "shit" again like a really smart guy.

I am not a lawyer. You are not my client. Even if I were a laywer, you would not be my client.

The general rule is that the guy continues to own his property and you have to provide him with written notice (generally, certified return receipt mail with signature required) that he has 30 days to pick up his stuff and after that you're going to try to dispose of it. If you know he's gotten the message (hence, the certified return receipt) and the time elapses, then you're generally in the clear.

You can't just throw it away without such notice, even if an enormous amount of time has passed; you have a duty to preserve these things that you're in temporary possession of.


But each state has its own peculiar variations of the rule, and NYC has its own rules besides.

It's surprisingly difficult to get the new york specifics on this.

I agree with throwawayi9i9; getting the pamphlet might be useful. You might also like to look at http://www.amazon.com/Landlords-Legal-Guide-Survival-Guides/dp/1572485914.

Alternately, if he was on the lease, you can make it your landlord's problem: hey, your former tenant left this stuff. (This doesn't work if he wasn't on the lease and was just subletting; then the guy he was subletting from is responsible).

I got these two books, which were extremely helpful, and written for second graders (which, is wonderful when you don't know shit about the industry!).

Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers

Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home.

WARNING!!! They were written by Agents and Brokers at the height of the boom. So there is some really fucking bad advise in them, read through the lines, and cherry pick what will work for you given our new market reality.

Overall, I got enough from those books to know what I needed to make better financial decisions, but you can't be completely blind about it - even with the books.

And I heavily supplemented the knowledge that I got from the books with recent blogs and real-estate threads.

So you are in the right place!

You want to read this: https://www.amazon.com/Home-Buying-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/0470453656

Also, look for a Mortgage Broker who work with different institutions. They will know whats best to shop your loan to different banks.

We did a 3% downpayment via the VA guaranty program. Very doable.

Sell with Soul by Jennifer Allan was pretty refreshing. I have a huge stack of RE books by my desk and that one stood out first.

Have you read this one? I'm assuming you have since you've recommended it?

investing in Canadian real estate is something I've been seriously looking at lately as well. Would you also recommend Don Campbell's other book?

Tbh, if you think MR is a school website, you probably don't read that much econ generally to begin with. It might be worth moderating the confidence in your opinion.

More here.

Eric Tyson is great on financial-related books:

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Buying-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/0470453656

The author of the NIMBYism quote is Matt Yglesias, who wrote a great e-book on density and urban revival.

I'm reading Trumps "The Best Real Estate Advice I Have Ever Received", which is a book with advice from 100 well known and respected Real Estate professionals. In the book, "How I turned $1,000 into a Million in Real Estate - In My Spare Time" by William Nickerson is held in very high esteem. I just purchased it recently and haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but it's widely considered one of the most practical Real Estate books of all time.

The title of the book has been updated over time to reflect inflation, so now it's 5 million: http://www.amazon.com/Turned-into-Million-Estate-Spare/dp/0671253689

On top of the advice here, I'd suggest getting rid of your debt. Even though I can more than afford my house mortgage, I can find it challenging to get stuff paid off, like a new furnace. or having to replace a car. Debt is like being in a hole of mud and trying to crawl out. And having a home loan and getting sick...and what else could happen.

Anyway, a loan broker can run the numbers, get 30 year mortgage, standard stuff, avoid FHA if you can, fees and all the baggage that follow those loans...

Anyway, Eric Tyson is amazing:

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Buying-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1118117964

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Estate-Finance-Investments/dp/0073377333


https://www.amazon.com/Real-Estate-Development-Principles-Process/dp/0874203430


https://www.amazon.com/Real-Estate-Transactions-Finance-Development/dp/1422429865

Happy reading!

I highly suggest you don't read any Noam Chomsky. E.g., Hegemony or Survival. Nor any Howard Zinn. E.g., Peoples History of the United States. Nor watch any documentaries they are in. Definitely don't do any of that. No sir.

Any of Bill Blum's books are probably a good primer on US imperialism.

https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Deadliest-Export-Democracy-Everything/dp/1780324456

The obligatory Chomsky

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805076883/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i9

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250131081/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i1

PS - don't buy directly from Amazon :P

It's nothing you can't find online, but if you want it all in one book - I'd recommend the Bigger Pockets guys' book. If you don't want to pull the trigger (it's only $22..) read their website and their posts to get a sense of their writing.

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Estimating-Rehab-Costs-BiggerPockets/dp/0988973715

We had some fun with bowling-ball-head a few years back Amazon Reviews

If you care about this issue, make your views known to your local zoning board and elected officials. Insane real estate prices in metro areas are not inevitable, they are a result of deliberate anti-growth, anti-development policies that prioritize car ownership and suburbanization.

I highly recommend this e-book for a more lucid explanation. The writer is a DC resident, and I think you'll find it very relevant.

okay. i just read this and i recommend that you do too.

https://www.amazon.com/Hegemony-Survival-Americas-Dominance-American/dp/0805076883

but hey maybe you think noam chomsky is an uneducated individual as well so idk

I bought this when we bought our house because I was similarly clueless. It helped me feel like I had a better handle on things.

Which, coincidentally, is a nice short book by Matthew Iglesias regarding housing issues in America. /off-topic

I'd personally start with a few videos, then work your way into literature. The literature I suggest below is intentionally easy to read.

• Howard Zinn - Marx in Soho, as played by Brian Jones
  
  
• Richard Wolff - Crisis and Openings: Introduction to Marxism
  
  
• Marx is Back - Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Zero
  
  
• Vivek Chibber - Capitalism and the State
  
  
• David Harvey - The Crises of Capitalism
  
  
• Slavoj Zizek - short explanation of ideology from the film The Pervert's Guide to Ideology & Violence
  
  
• Debate between Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault on the topic of Human Nature
  
  
• Ranjeet Brar - Dialectical Materialism
  
  Literature by Marx and Engels:
  
  
• The Principles of Communism & Manifesto of the Communist Party
  
  
• Wage Labour and Capital & Value, Price and Profit
  
  
• The Paris Commune (from The Civil War in France)
  
  
• Socialism: Scientific and Utopian
  
  I guess somewhere around here you can start reading Marx and Engel's other works, with Capital being your priority. Where you go after that is up to you.
  
  Some interesting literature:
  
  
• Oscar Wilde - The Soul of Man Under Socialism
  
  
• Albert Einstein - Why Socialism?
  
  
• Eric Hobsbawm works on history - The Age of Revolution, Capital, Empire and Extremes
  
  
• Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell - Towards a New Socialism
  
  
• Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent & Hegemony or Survival
  
  
• Bertell Ollman - Dance of the Dialectic
  
  
• David Harvey - Brief History of Neoliberalism and Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism
  
  
• Robert Biel - The Entropy of Capitalism
  
  
• Christian Fuchs - Digital Labour and Karl Marx
  
  
• Alain Badiou - Philosophy for Militants
  
  
• Julian Assange - The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire

> those high rises in LIC are multiplying like rabbits in heat though.

That's a reason why Queens is "still safe;" a larger supply of units reduces the price per unit, rather than vice-versa.

Amen, brother.

I'll just add that OP should also read RPL 235-f

> 4. Any lease or rental agreement for residential premises entered into
by two or more tenants shall be construed to permit occupancy by tenants, immediate family of tenants, occupants and dependent children of occupants; provided that the total number of tenants and occupants, excluding occupants' dependent children, does not exceed the number of tenants specified in the current lease or rental agreement, and that at least one tenant or a tenants' spouse occupies the premises as his primary residence.

Ah hell, here's some more required reading:

https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/housing/pdfs/Landlordbooklet.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Landlords-Law-Book/dp/0873379276 or http://www.amazon.com/Landlords-Legal-Guide-Survival-Guides/dp/1572485914 (and the Nolo book is good too, but not NY-specific).

Sure:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Gated-City-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B005KGATLO
http://www.amazon.com/Rent-Too-Damn-High-Matters-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO

https://www.amazon.com/Country-Property-Dirt-Cheap-Inexpensive/dp/0945959524

This book has been recommended to me.

Yglesias writes about this stuff all the time, in fact he wrote a great book about it : The Rent is Too Damn High. He's against rent control of all sorts, but thinks the issue has a lot more to do with zoning / density regulations.

So this is why I have to reread every other sentence in Chomsky's books.

Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Nolos-Essential-Guide-Buying-Guidel/dp/1413323456/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

Did you know that there is actually a "Homebuying for Dummies" book?

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Buying-Dummies-Eric-Tyson-ebook/dp/B0026LTMHI/

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Buying-For-Dummies-Edition/dp/0470453656/

Look for some relevant episodes on the Property Hub podcast or get their book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Be-Landlord-Definitive-Managing/dp/0993497225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497438021&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+be+a+landlord

See here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0078XGJXO

It's a pretty straightforward housing shortage, pretty much what you see in bigger cities on the West Coast (SF, Seattle). Vacancy rates are at historic lows (~1%), and with the improving economy more people are moving out of their parents' basements and forming new households.

Meanwhile new construction hasn't kept up, partially just due to the overall lag between deciding there's a market for more housing and actually finishing construction, and partially because various regulations make building new housing in Bellingham expensive (impact fees, parking minimums, caps on density, low income housing fees, etc.).

And econ 101 says raising the minimum wage has exactly the effect you describe: more dollars chasing the same amount of housing just makes prices go up (that's not to say it doesn't help people in other ways, but it doesn't help make housing more affordable).

Background: http://seattletransitblog.com/2015/09/28/better-vocabulary-for-the-housing-debate/, http://www.amazon.com/The-Rent-Too-Damn-High-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO

There's nothing wrong with preserving genuinely historical buildings, but rigid heights caps and building limitations can have really, really bad consequences over the long run. As the city's population increases, scarcity of living, office, and retail space is going to set in. You end up with astronomical rent, sprawl, and congestion. "Preserving your downtown" ends up being "gentrifying your downtown and driving people out to the suburbs at enormous environmental and economic cost".

I mean, it's almost literally like jamming down a lid on a bot that's boiling over - everything's going to burst out to the sides, and it's going to be messy.

This has already happened in most of the big coastal cities, and it will happen to San Antonio too unless you guys embrace some more density (i.e., taller buildings). I live in DC, and it's already happened here. Go lookup rental ads on DC Craigslist. That's the future of San Antonio if the same policy stays in place.

A useful book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/The-Rent-Damn-High-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO

A house is the largest investment and purchase you will ever make. It's important to actually do research.

I just bought a house last year, and the process took Nine months. I do live in one of the hottest markets in the US, so you likely won't have it that bad.

The first 6 months of the process was studying and getting experience, the last 3 months was actually shopping.

The Very First thing you need to do is read about everything that is required. This is the resource I used. you will also want to take classes. Knowing what you're in for is very important.

The second thing you will do is get in touch with multiple banks, see what kind of 'Pre-offers' they will give you. These are just estimates of what kind of loans you can get from them. They are free, and you want multiple offers. We did not go with our normal bank, and you don't have to either. The "Maximum Loan" is what the bank thinks you can afford without starving to death, do not use the max loan as a gauge of what you can actually afford.

After you have a bank, you will know what kind of loans you are looking at, and what you can afford. It's time to start window shopping. This means going out and viewing houses in your market with no intention of buying. You will likely see houses you really want, but can't have. This will give you experience in walking away from bad deals. Don't buy until you are 100% ready.

When you know what kind of house you want, how much it ought to cost, and how to walk away from a bad deal, get an agent. Now you are ready.

The Rent Is Too Damn High: What To Do About It

It's funny, this morning I was just reading about this U.S. backed terrorist in Noam Chomsky's book, Hegemony or Survival.

Political works by Chomsky:

The Responsibility of Intellectuals (1967),
At War With Asia: Essays on Indochina (1969),
Government in the Future (1970),
The Fateful Triangle (1983, 2015),
The Chomsky Reader (1987, 2010),
Manufacturing Consent (1988, 2002),
Year 501: The Conquest Continues (1992, 2015),
Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky (2002),
Hegemony or Survival (2003),
Failed States (2006).

Works on Chomsky:

Noam Chomsky: A personal bibliography, 1951-1986 (1986),
Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent (1998),
Chomsky: Ideas and Ideals ( 1999, 2002, 2016),
The Cambridge Companion to Chomsky (2005, 2017),
The Social and Political Thought of Noam Chomsky (2000, 2002, 2004),
The Chomsky Effect: A Radical Works Beyond the Ivory Tower (2007), Noam Chomsky (2015)


Also this, this, this and this.

This is all just thinly veiled rambling. I don't know why you are getting so upset. Did I say I was part of the creative class moving into silver lake? No. I have lived in the east San Fernando Valley my whole life and dont intend to spend 600k on a shack in silverlake.

You are going on and on about national debt issues and the prison industrial complex. I am an urban planner by trade and education, so I offer you the theoretical, market historical context for gentrification.

I can also offer you some reading material if you are interested in this subject.

An easy read is "The Rent is Too Damn High" - This book discusses the economics of ever increasing property prices and rent, how our laws against density and building in general have betrayed lower income people.

"Naked City:The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places" - This book discusses that "authenticity" I was talking about that people are interested in now (btw, I never said I was seeking it). It also discusses gentrification's toll on the poor and its market based reality.

If you are interested in the creative class part, Richard Florida is an author always writing about that. Im not a huge fan of his though, for more general reasons. But when I say the creative class invades cheap neighborhoods is artistic and entrepreneurial skilled workers who bring their homes and maybe even their work to the area. This isn't a new thing, its happened through history, especially the past century. They are the pioneers of the gentrifying neighborhood before the people with the real money start entering.

I grew up in coastal Southern California, so I'm used to the conundrum. But I think I see it a bit differently to you.

The owning a home thing is, frankly, increasingly impossible unless you make big bucks. But the dirty secret is that it's sort of becoming like that everywhere (read: most major metropolitan areas with lots of jobs and industry). You can buck the trend a bit by moving to a "non-hub" area...and real estate is a lot cheaper there but there's a reason for it--if you lose your job you'll likely have to move a large distance away to find a new one, etc. And you know why the federal government thinks you make too much money? Because you're likely getting a salary premium working here and would face a salary cut elsewhere, even in what seems like a more affordable area.

And the thing is, this isn't our fault. It's largely the fault of bad planning choices, NIMBYism, irrational fear of urban sprawl, etc--which leads to underdevelopment/density where the jobs are. Pretty much everywhere in the peninsula, east bay, southern Marin, and especially south bay should be being developed with new higher density housing now given the insane premium on home prices and rents here. But they're not being--mostly because of a regulatory/NIMBY/greed clusterfuck that benefits longtime property owners at the expense of everyone else.

Recommended reading: Matt Yglesias's great "The Rent is Too Damn High"
http://www.amazon.com/The-Rent-Damn-High-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO