HOW TO JUMP-START YOUR WAY TO REAL ESTATE WEALTH

A veteran real estate investor offers a manual for new landlords.

In this business book, Barbera follows up on his Retire and Refire (2022) and provides recommendations to readers interested in following his path as an owner of a collection of rental properties. The guide addresses how to find investmentworthy buildings, how to finance the purchase, how to manage a portfolio of apartments, and how to deal with common problems that arise. The author explains how to decide whether a building is worth purchasing—along with evaluating the financial aspects of the transaction, readers should spend time investigating the neighborhood, assessing its characteristics, and deciding whether they could see themselves living there. He also discusses how to hire a building manager to oversee day-to-day operations while remaining an aware and engaged owner. The book focuses primarily on investing in residential, rather than commercial, properties, and Barbera illustrates his explanations with anecdotes from his decades of apartment ownership. For the author, real estate is a business based on relationships, a refrain he returns to throughout the manual even as he explains the mechanics of the gross rent multiplier and the workings of a property auction, providing examples of fellow investors, lawyers, and tenants who have contributed to his success. He is critical of those who invest in real estate only for the financial benefit (“Pride of ownership can’t stop at writing the check; you’re not hoarding buildings, you’re developing them”) or take little interest in the operations of their own properties. Barbera argues for profits without exploitation, emphasizing the importance of housing to all people and the responsibility of landlords to maintain well-kept and livable spaces. The book has a somewhat valedictory tone (with references to the days of $72.50 a month rent reminding readers how long he has been in the business), as Barbera reflects on his career and encourages others to take up the mantle of responsible landlording. An appendix delivers samples of many of the forms and documents the author discusses, although he reminds readers to comply with all state and local regulations.

A thoughtful and encouraging guide to apartment ownership.