Top 12 must-read real estate books of 2021

Each year, I purchase and read every real-estate-related book that gets published to curate a list for this article. I just counted, and I currently have 93 real estate books and have given away or lent out many more.

There were a lot of new releases in 2021 (some better than others) — a result of authors’ newfound time off due to pandemic. Kudos to each and everyone one of you for crossing this major accomplishment off your list. Writing a book is no easy feat. Having published three books myself, I know how challenging it can be to turn the idea into reality. 

It wouldn’t be fair to my readers to include everything, so I took care to narrow down what I feel are the best 12 books in real estate category from 2021 — the perfect amount for a monthly book club or a small personal collection. 

Adam shares insights from his years of experience as CEO of RE/MAX LLC and past life as a SWAT team leader.

Start With a Win is filled with actual stories and lessons learned. You’ll learn about the importance of mindset, lifelong learning, problem-solving and how to transform negative situations into opportunities.

This book is great for aspiring team leaders and members alike. When read as a group, it will help you come together to create obtainable goals, with measurable daily, weekly and monthly activities to hold each other accountable.

The High Performing Real Estate Team includes formulas, team structures, role descriptions, key metrics and recommendations to guide a team through growth using proven systems.

It is time to focus on the human and think deeper about the customer’s journey and experience. Too often, the industry is focused on the success rate and not failure. The solution has been to increase volume.

However, Beute and Pacinelli describe a different approach where attention is given to each step of the journey. Incremental changes at each stage can result in a huge change; they turn the sales funnel on its side, creating what they call the “bow-tie funnel.”

Each action we take in our marketing trains the receiver on what to do next. So, are you adding value or just creating noise?

A great resource for new agents, Greene provides a guide to getting started and shares insights to become a successful agent.

We’ve all heard the statistic that 87 percent of real estate agents fail in their first few years in the industry. This book breaks down the reasons why and focuses on the fundamentals of sales and running a business that agents aren’t taught when they get their licenses.

Are you considering investing in a short-term rental property or expanding your existing portfolio? This book will teach you the ins and outs of running a successful Airbnb property, including best practices, setting up a business entity, market research, operations and financial considerations.

The authors share their winning formulas for a profitable Airbnb business as well as insights you may not have even thought of.

Andrei walks you through creating effective Facebook ads with consistent and predictable results. Why try to figure it out on your own when you can simply implement the same systems and ad copy that have been proven effective by agents in other markets?

Filled with examples and actionable information, this is a great resource for any agent considering investing in Facebook advertising.

The Ultimate Real Estate Machine provides the roadmap to exponential growth through reflection, identifying common problems, determining lifetime value of clients and understanding key drivers and principles.

The authors share real-world experiences and mistakes to avoid that can save you time and money. It’s a lifetime of lessons compressed into 244 easy-to-read pages.

A successful real estate sales coach, Coffey shares her results-oriented system in this book. The book walks through concepts like mindset, skills, productive day-to-day activities and sales funnel.

It includes tools that will help create an actionable business plan without a lot of unnecessary fluff.

This is another great resource for new agents to avoid failure and understand what it takes to become successful as a real estate salesperson.

The book is written for today and reflects real-world challenges and opportunities in the marketplace right now. Read this if you want to hit the ground running in 2022.

Howard has created a textbook for running a successful real estate business at a very high level. Building off of Verl Workman’s systems, this book includes tools, checklists, illustrations, quotes from Workman, strategies and roadmaps to each stage with real world numbers.

If you’re willing to put in the work, this book will guide you to your desired outcome.

If you’ve got a big dream, this book is for you. Bravo TV star Serhant shares tips for building confidence, taking control of your life and harnessing the power of positive energy.

If you’re a fan of the show or follow him on social media, you know how hard this guy work. The book is motivational and inspiring, and I highly recommend the audible version as Ryan narrates it himself.

Here, Jones summarizes and shares his takeaways from over 20 real estate investment books. each 20- to 30-page chapter breaks down a best-selling book that is 10 to 20 times that in length.

If you’re considering pursuing investment real estate, this could be a quick way to get a high-level overview of number of different popular perspectives. I’d encourage further reading of the original content from authors that you find valuable.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this list, be sure to comment with your favorite books, what you’re planning on reading in 2022 and any big takeaways from the books I’ve recommended.

If you’re an aspiring author, I encourage you to go for it. Writing is a great way to cultivate and share your ideas in a meaningful way. 

Brandon Doyle is a Realtor at Doyle Real Estate Team — RE/MAX Results in Minneapolis and co-author of Mindset, Methods & Metrics – Winning as a Modern Real Estate Agent. You can follow him on Twitter.