Best Real Estate Foreclosure Investing Books

Real estate investing is all about finding and adding value. What better place to find value than in foreclosures?

Often, foreclosures sells for 10-20% below their fair market value, and this extra margin can be the difference between a successful deal and one that earns nothing (or worse, loses money)

There are various preforeclosure phases that a person may go through before losing their house.

1. First, they may attempt a short sale. Buying a short sale may be lucrative because there is little competition, but the buying process is uncertain and can take months.
2. Then, there is generally a foreclosure auction where you can either buy it, or the bank takes possession of it. Auction prices will depend on how many interested parties there are at the actual auction. Foreclosure auctions carry risk because you don’t know the condition of the house and there may be problems with title.
3. If a bank takes possession of it, these are called REO and the bank can then sell it on the open market. These will generally sell for more than deals at auction because houses sold on the market will generally come with a clear title.

We will include the best books for every phase of the foreclosure process.

1. The Complete Guide to Investing in Foreclosures

by Steve Berges

This book is a little bit older (2005), but honestly the fundamentals have not changed much.

The way I look at it, would I rather follow advice from someone who has been around for a long time and is giving you ‘old’ advice, or take advice from someone who is doing it today, but may not survive the next recession.

Any book from Steve Berges is worth reading, and I recommend pretty much every book he has written.

2. The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investor’s Kit: How to Make Money Buying Distressed Real Estate — Before the Public Auction

By Thomas Lucier

Pre-foreclosure real estate is one of the hottest investment opportunities on the market. The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investor’s Kit offers step-by-step instruction and no-nonsense advice on how to find great deals, estimate fair market value, negotiate with sellers, sell your property on your own, and win big in real estate. You’ll learn how to get the best deals on foreclosure properties before they go to auction and utilize simple ready-made worksheets, checklists, forms, and agreements that make getting started easy.

Even people of modest means can get into pre-foreclosure investing—all it takes is a little hard work, persistence, and the tools you’ll find in this handy guide.

3. Short-Sale Pre-Foreclosure Investing: How to Buy “No-Equity” Properties Directly from the Bank — at Huge Discounts

by Dwan Bent-Twyford & Sharon Restrepo

Like I mentioned before, buying deals that are pre-foreclosure can help you avoid the crowds at the auction, but there are a lot of other pitfalls and risks.

This book is a beginners guide to pre-foreclosures.

4. Build a Rental Property Empire: The no-nonsense book on finding deals, financing the right way, and managing wisely

By Mark Ferguson

This book gives you the exact details on how to finance, find, analyze, manage, and even sell rental properties. Where other books lack the details on how to actually make money in real estate, this book is all about the details. It is written by someone who has been investing in real estate for over 15 years and is still investing today.

If you are having trouble figuring out how to find the right properties, how to finance them, where to buy properties, or how to buy with little cash, this book tells you how to overcome those obstacles.