Hope all is well readers and you are looking forward to spring & a busy real estate season! Continuing on in my series from last year, reviewing real estate related books, I am going to be discussing a book I’ve recently read.    

What is the Book?  

Legal, Tax & Accounting Strategies for the Canadian Real Estate Investor by Steve Cohen & George Dube.    

Who Are the Authors?  

Steve Cohen is a Toronto Area lawyer and active real estate investor. George Dube is a Waterloo area accountant and also an active real estate investor.    

What Will I Learn?  

The book starts off by talking about the advantages of investing in real estate. How to get started with building a successful team (ie, realtor, lawyer, accountant, lender, insurance broker, etc).   It then delves into more complex topics of legal and tax considerations on purchases. The structure of how you buy a property is almost as important as what you buy. Other topics in this section include: active vs inactive income, partnerships, joint ventures, trusts, financing considerations, etc.   The book continues on to the time period of owning a property and covers issues such as: property management from legal and tax perspective, repairs, renovations and deducting expenses such as auto and travel. It starts to conclude with a section on selling properties. It discussed how to successfully sell a property for top dollar. Tax considerations for the savvy investor to minimize taxes and also some estate planning.   Lastly, the book finishes up with a section on bookkeeping and how important it is to have solid bookkeeping and accounting as a real estate investor, and then reviews some examples of financial statements.    

Why I Recommend it?  

Investing in real estate is a learning experience. You’ll always make some mistakes but hopefully you can minimize them through reading resources such as this one. Also it comes from a strictly Canadian perspective which is nice and applicable to most Canadians.    

My Critique?  

It is a little bit dry. Not an overly fun read for the casual investor. More targeted at the more sophisticated investor with larger ambitions.   So there you have it folks. Then next book review in our series. Have any of you read this book?  What were your thoughts?      

You can order a copy of the book on Amazon or Indigo. Happy reading!