Where to Start with Brandon Turner: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Brandon Turner — whether to begin with The Book on Rental Property Investing or Managing Rental Properties. A complete reading guide.
By Marcus Webb
Brandon Turner is the American real estate investor, author, and co-founder of BiggerPockets — the largest real estate investing social network in the United States, with over two million members — whose books on rental property investing have become the standard introductory texts for readers entering the world of residential real estate investment. Turner’s books are characterised by their practical, numbers-focused approach and their grounding in the lived experience of building a rental portfolio from scratch.
Where to Start: The Book on Rental Property Investing (2015)
The essential Turner — and the most widely read introduction to rental property investment for beginners. The book covers the full process from first principles: what rental property investment is, why it builds wealth more reliably than many other asset classes (through cash flow, appreciation, loan paydown, and tax advantages simultaneously), and how to find, analyse, finance, and manage properties.
The deal analysis sections are the book’s most valuable content. Turner teaches specific metrics — cash-on-cash return (annual cash flow divided by cash invested), cap rate (net operating income divided by property value), the 1% rule (monthly rent should be at least 1% of purchase price as a quick filter) — and shows how to apply them to real properties. He is honest about when these rules apply and when they don’t; the analysis is practical rather than theoretical.
The financing section is equally practical: Turner explains the different loan types available to investors (conventional, FHA for house-hacking, portfolio loans, private money), their requirements and costs, and how to think about leverage. For readers who believe they can’t invest in real estate because they don’t have a large down payment, the book’s treatment of creative financing is often revelatory.
For readers starting from zero in real estate investing, The Book on Rental Property Investing is the clearest available foundation.
The Book on Managing Rental Properties (2015)
The operational companion — tenant screening, lease agreements, rent collection, evictions, and the decision to self-manage versus hire a property manager. Read after The Book on Rental Property Investing when you’re ready to manage what you’ve acquired.
Why The Book on Rental Property Investing Is the Ideal First Book
For a reader new to Brandon Turner, The Book on Rental Property Investing is the ideal first book because it is his most comprehensive and practical guide to the subject for which he is best known, building wealth through rental real estate. A leading voice in real estate investing, Turner offers in this book a thorough, practical, and accessible guide to investing in rental properties, covering the strategies, analysis, and practical steps involved in building a portfolio of income-producing real estate. As an entry point, it is ideal because it provides a comprehensive foundation in rental property investing, the strategies for finding and analyzing deals, financing properties, and building wealth over time, all in an accessible and actionable form. It welcomes the newcomer with its thorough coverage, its practical orientation, and its accessible style, making a potentially intimidating subject approachable for the aspiring investor. It is among his best-known and most comprehensive books and a fine representation of his practical approach, so that the new reader gains a solid foundation in the subject. For the newcomer interested in real estate investing, then, The Book on Rental Property Investing is the natural and ideal starting point.
What to Expect as a New Reader
As a new reader, you can expect The Book on Rental Property Investing to be a comprehensive, practical, and accessible guide to building wealth through rental real estate, covering the strategies and practical steps involved in investing in income-producing property. You can expect thorough coverage, for the book addresses the full range of rental property investing, finding and analyzing deals, financing properties, managing the practical realities, and building a portfolio over time. You can expect a practical, actionable orientation, for Turner focuses on concrete strategies and real-world guidance rather than abstract theory, offering the aspiring investor a clear path to follow. You can expect an accessible and encouraging style, for Turner writes in a way that makes a potentially intimidating subject approachable and achievable. You can expect the book to be grounded in real experience and oriented toward results, building wealth through rental real estate. Expect, in short, a comprehensive, practical, and accessible guide to rental property investing, a solid and actionable introduction to building wealth through real estate.
Going Deeper After Your First Book
Once The Book on Rental Property Investing has given you a foundation in rental real estate, the reader who wishes to go deeper can explore Turner’s other books and the wider resources of the real estate investing community he is part of, which address further aspects of investing, from financing strategies to specific approaches and techniques. His other books address related topics, such as how to invest in real estate with limited money down, building on the foundation that his comprehensive guide provides and addressing further strategies and challenges. Reading these after The Book on Rental Property Investing deepens your knowledge of real estate investing, progressing from the comprehensive foundation to more specific strategies and techniques. His practical, accessible, and actionable approach runs through his work, and the reader who has found his comprehensive guide useful will find the same practical guidance in his other books. Building your reading journey through Turner’s work is a matter of progressing from the foundations of rental property investing to more specific strategies as your knowledge and portfolio grow. The reader who begins with The Book on Rental Property Investing and continues through his work will find a practical and reliable guide to building wealth through real estate.
Reading Brandon Turner
Begin with The Book on Rental Property Investing — it covers the full picture from deal finding to acquisition. Read The Book on Managing Rental Properties after for the operational frameworks. Both are standalone.
For the full Brandon Turner bibliography, reviews, and biography, visit the Brandon Turner author page on Editors Reads.
Affiliate disclosure: Links to Amazon on this page are affiliate links. We earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Brandon Turner?
The Book on Rental Property Investing (2015) is the essential starting point — Turner's comprehensive guide to building wealth through residential rental properties, covering deal analysis, financing strategies, property management, and the mindset of a successful investor. The most widely read of his books and the right foundation for readers beginning in real estate investment. The Book on Managing Rental Properties is the practical follow-on.
What is The Book on Rental Property Investing about?
The Book on Rental Property Investing covers the full lifecycle of rental property investment: finding and analysing deals (cash-on-cash return, cap rate, the 1% rule), financing options (conventional loans, FHA loans, private money, seller financing), property types (single-family, small multifamily), managing tenants and properties, building systems for scaling a portfolio, and the mindset required to sustain a real estate investment business. Turner is co-founder of BiggerPockets; the book reflects the community's practical, experience-based approach.
What is The Book on Managing Rental Properties about?
The Book on Managing Rental Properties (co-written with Heather Turner) is the operational companion to the investing book — covering the day-to-day reality of being a landlord: tenant screening, lease agreements, rent collection, maintenance and repairs, handling problem tenants, eviction procedures, and the decision of when to self-manage versus hire a property manager. More focused on operations than on deal analysis; the right follow-on for readers who have acquired properties and need management frameworks.
Is Brandon Turner's approach suitable for beginners?
Turner writes specifically for beginners and those early in their real estate investing journey. His approach is practitioner-based rather than theoretical — grounded in the BiggerPockets community's collective experience — and he is honest about the challenges and pitfalls alongside the opportunities. The books are particularly strong on the numbers side of real estate analysis; many readers find them the most practically useful introductions to the subject available.
