[.ca] Commercial Real Estate Analysis and Investments (w (ISBN 0324305486)

Great text - solid presentation - just undertand its focus:
I think this is a wonderful text. However, let me state up front this is NOT a general book about real estate as an investment vehicle in the broad sense. It is a text that provides the knowledge and techniques to ANALYZE commercial real estate as a financial investment. So, yes, the book is heavy on financial analysis and the many way markets and techniques that exist for investing in commercial real estate. You won't learn a thing about how to pick or manage properties. Those are topics for other books and courses. This great book does have a rather specific focus, but it needs that because the topic it does cover is so large and there is a great deal to learn. I find the book to be clearly written with the bare minimum of mathematics to make the content extremely valuable. Because the authors have a practical focus the reader is not overwhelmed or bogged down in abstruse topics or arcane formulae. The book has thirty chapters grouped into eight parts. The eight parts are 1) Into to real estate economics, 2) Urban economics and real estate analysis, 3) Basic financial economic concepts and tools, 4) Real estate valuation and investment analysis at the microlevel, 5) Completing the basic investment analysis picture, 6) Mortgages from an investment perspective, 7) Macrolevel real estate investment, 8) Real estate development and other selected topics. From this list of topics you can understand the nature of this book. If these are issues you are interested in I think you will find this book really delivers the goods and I am glad to have on my shelf of valued business texts.

The Best Real Estate Text I've Ever Read:
This book is not for the faint-hearted or for readers who want to skim a few paragraphs and then think they'll get rich quick. If you read this book, chapter by chapter, and do the exercises at the end of each one, you'll probably know more about Real Estate Finance than many people in Real Estate boardrooms. This will take a few weeks as a minimum, but it will have immense value. The writers Geltner and Miller really choose to go "in-depth" with each topic, almost to the point of annoyance when you're reading it, but afterwards you realize why, and importantly, realize what you've learned by doing it. This book is immensely valuable, and requires some work to achieve that value. It's value will be with you permanently however, because you will have absorbed the true principals of what's going on it real estate and the associated financial markets, and not just have memorized some glib cookbook answers which many people may instead be hoping for. This is a book for thinkers and practicioners who want carry lasting value with them.

Worthless!:
My rating is based on two criteria: (1) The authors can't write readable prose. They do not even know how to constuct a coherent paragraph, let alone build a coherent full-bodied narrative. Mostly academic jargon. (2) The authors say that you can view commercial real estate from many perspectives, but they emphasize financial economics. Unfortunately, anyone who restricts their view to fin econ cannot make sensible decisions.This perspective renders the book useless. It's clear the authors have no practical knowledge of commercial real estate -- or if they do they're keeping it a secret. Written primarily to impress their buddies in university econ and finance departments.

Very good text:
This is a very good book. It covers urban economics and market analysis very well. The chapter on real estate and portfolio theory is more than worth the readers time. Text also covers commercial mortgages very well. This is not a get rich quick book but if you want to learn about commercial real estate, then this book is what you are looking for.

Great!:
This is an excellent book for developing an analytical view on commercial real estate markets. It is not suited as a "commercial real estate analysis" step-by-step guideline for the average real estate professional, but it is great as a textbook in a university master course. Complex concepts and principles are described in an easy-to-understand way. The book has a broad scope, with chapters written from a finance, investments or urban economics perspective. One of the best books for an academic real estate course.