Basics

A dictionary you can read cover to cover, or open to any page.

1. 01This Book Can Be Used Like a DictionaryNobody reads a cookbook cover to cover in order.
2. 02Why Real Estate Is a Game — Four Players (People, Money, Buildings, Time)Plenty of people think of real estate as Monopoly.
3. 03Cap Rate: A Building's Price Tag Against Its SalaryA building's price tag is never set by what it earns today — it's set by how much the market trusts what it will earn tomorrow.
4. 04NOI: A Building's Pay StubThe moment people open their pay stub, the first number they look for isn't the "gross salary" printed at the top.
5. 05Leverage: High Heels That Add Height with Someone Else's MoneyPut on a pair of high heels and you instantly gain seven, ten centimeters of height.
6. 06Depreciation: A Building That Only Ages on PaperSome actors play the same age on screen no matter how many years pass.
7. 07Replacement Cost: The Seatbelt Question "What Would It Cost to Build New?"Say you're shopping for a used car.
8. 08DSCR: The Building's Credit-Card Payoff ScoreIf you've ever sat across a desk from a loan officer, you know the first question isn't your salary.
9. 09Cycles: Real Estate's Four Seasons — Except the Seasons Are Never the Same LengthWhen spring arrives, everyone knows summer is coming.
10. 10Rent Negotiation: The Push-and-Pull of a First DateOn a first date, almost nobody opens with "So, what's your salary?
11. 11Due Diligence = The Premarital Credit CheckImagine someone giving this advice to a couple about to get married: "Check their credit score and debt history, pull their medical records, and find out exactly why their last marriage ended."
12. 12Why Did This Deal Come to Me? — On Why the Good Ones Sit UnsoldSay you spot a used car on the lot in unusually good shape.