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n
1.0 out of 5 stars Scott writes more books than LOIs
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2019
BP has gone downhill in quality as they keep publishing bad blog posts as books. Pro Tip: if you're new, watch youtube videos, don't pay for niche books that won't help you, especially the BP line of books. If you're seasoned, you already know this.

Re: Real Estate market cycles - they don't matter. A deal is a deal. If you're a long-term investor (10+ years) the cycle doesn't matter because you're not leaving the deal, you aren't worried about appreciation because you're cashflowing while the market dips. It happens. If you're a short-term investor (flipping within weeks/months), the cycle doesn't matter because you're buying and selling based on what is a deal right now.

But if you're worried, I'll save you five bucks:
There are 4 stages to the RE market cycle -
1. Recovery (high vacancy, no new construction)
2. Expansion (decline in vacancies, new construction)
3. Oversupply (continued new construction, rise in vacancies)
4. Recession (overbuilt construction, decline in occupancy rates, rents go on sale)

We seem to be in stage 3 entering in 2020. Cap rates are compressing and lenders are getting more aggressive. This is important if you're starting to work with banks/getting into new development.
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J. H.
4.0 out of 5 stars Plan Ahead...
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
Recession Proof Real Estate Investing by J Scott is a perfect start for novice, or intermediate real estate investors.

J’s new book was concise and easy read. (I have not read J’s blog posts or other material, but will be doing so after this).

With several real estate books and a couple of co-flips under my belt, what I really enjoyed was J’s bigger picture. The simplicity of the writing and the spelling out of some terms I was not familiar with were detailed enough, but simplified and easy to understand. J never sold one thing in here; it’s all about the topic inside.

Strategies versus tactics, phases and observations.

Novice and intermediate investors (action takers) will be given a nice overview of what J believes are the 4 simplified, but major phases we can look at as real estate investors and also for those who want to get started in the arena.

This book is NOT a step-by-step on how do complete a house flip (Steps 1,2,3). As further examples in the book, it is not a how to or step-by-step for investing in actual notes or hard lending, but it is an overview and makes you think about the strategy.

This book IS a road-map giving you alternative routes to navigate through, around, over and under the phases of the real estate market to make your strategies potentially more profitable, while allowing you to realize you can shift your knowledge and experiences through each phases with examples of how to do so.

If you like comfort and you are a house flipper for example, you may just continue to flip houses in all 4 phases, but by taking some more risk, action, and having the ability to learn other strategies, J lays out other options for you. Readers of J’s book will make a choice to follow-up deeper on the strategies mentioned, decide to implement the tactics and/or choose to grow as an investor with other options given if they want to. Think, ”Plan ahead.”

Data lovers will also be given a path of where to look as the book includes useful charts and graphs. Following BOTH real estate indicators and non-real estate indicators is key and not getting too caught up in any "market hype" (good or bad) is also important. Pay attention to your business and the phase we are in.

Those who consider themselves “seasoned investors” could still take a look at the bigger picture given by J.

Example; most seasoned investors are probably extremely good at one thing. If seasoned or expert real estate investors are willing to widen their thought process and see other strategies are available to them, they may expand their horizons with even more potential profits or perhaps give themselves a little more protection during any of the phases. I think seasoned investors could still have some take-aways from J's book because they either, haven’t thought of a implementing a particular strategy or just weren’t willing to try.

Per usual, with anything in life there are no guarantees and real estate is not an exact science. J was honest and also points out that some things may not hold true at any specific period of time, but what you are able to pull from his experience and his joy of writing was his genuine goal of helping others enter or grow in the world of real estate.

An excellent example to summarize the book from the author; “To optimize your business at any given time, you need to be flexible and use the strategy that’s most effective and profitable-not just one that you happen to like-based on current market conditions.”
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book is Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2020
Verified Purchase
If you want to learn market analysis and what strategies work in each market cycle, this book is for you. As a Real Estate Investor, I can most definitely relate to what the author is saying when he mentions cycles and how to evaluate them by using observational and quantitative data.
Guys keep in mind that in order for you to make a ton of money in RE is being about to determine which market you in. Reading this book will give you the foundation to build off of. What I also noticed is that he did not promote so much of BiggerPockets content in the book. Sometimes I don't like reading so many Biggerpockets books because they spend a huge amount of the book promoting their brand rather than talking about the actual content. I must say that this author did a really good job by simply focusing on the content and when necessary, promote the Biggerpockets brand.

One last note here.

The author mentioned in the beginning of the book the three main cycle measures; Business Cycle, Long Term Debt and Real Estate Cycle. It was wise of him to use the business cycle as the premise of his content because the business cycle is easier to realize. In addition our U.S. economy goes off this to determine if we are in a recession or not. If you want to get good at analyzing markets, have some knowledge on all three but be an expert in the business cycle.

Overall really good book and I highly recommend it.
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Ed Barton
TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read Now
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020
Verified Purchase
As the economy enters into unknown territory at the time I’m writing this in Fall 2020, the back half of this book is an absolute must read. There’s a general intro to economics and economic analysis which is solid, but general. The back part of the book, with the four parts of the cycle, how to identify them and what to do is extremely valuable. A good addition to the library.
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Phillip
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy read
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2019
Verified Purchase
Whether you are new to basic economics or experienced as an investor this was a fun read. I would recommend this book to all investors.
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Harry J. Vassilopoulos
5.0 out of 5 stars But it.
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
Should be in every real estate owners library.
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hannibal
5.0 out of 5 stars Have to read
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
Read if you want to know the answer of this question: should I wait the market crash to invest in real estate?
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C. Wallace
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Information
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book provides great insight into how the real estate cycle works. I can better understand what’s going on in the economy and I will be better prepared to take action.
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
This book is an excellent introduction to real estate investing and the wider economic factors that affect it. It's clearly written and structured, and once you've read the introduction you could go directly to the chapter that describes the current state of the economy and the real estate strategies that work well there.

The books' explanation the stages of the economic cycle(s) and which economic indicators will tell you what (GDP, unemployment, etc) is worth the price alone.

The only drawback to this book is that while the overall strategies are applicable everywhere, the details and examples all come from the US, but this is only a minor problem.
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Yuri P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative
Reviewed in Germany on February 13, 2020
Verified Purchase
Very instructive, easy to read. Gives an overall idea about recessions and which strategy suits better at each phase.
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