Property Management Books You Should Add to Your List

property management books
By The Hospitable Team

Becoming a successful host and a great property manager requires a good understanding of the vacation rental industry. So how do you begin? Reading property management books can help you learn about the best practices and master the intricacies of the perfect hosting and property management.

If you are looking to expand your knowledge, we can help you make your search for a great book faster. We’ve made a list of the top books on property management and property investing.

Ready? Check out the list below.

How to Choose the Book on Managing Rental Properties

Property managers have a lot of responsibilities, including marketing the property, screening guests, managing check-ins and check-outs, cleaning, and maintenance. You also need to learn good interpersonal skills and deal with demanding guests and problematic situations.

That’s why you should look for in-depth books that discuss a wide range of aspects relating to managing vacation rentals. For example, you need information about how to find a good property to rent out, create a listing on an STR platform, market it, keep track of the financials, and manage the legal aspects.

Best Books on Property Management

Here are some of the best books on property management to read. Although not all the books in this list cover all the aspects mentioned above in full detail, each of them is easy to read and packed with insight and practical advice.

Get Paid For Your Pad: How to Maximize Profit from Your Airbnb Listing by Jasper Ribbers and Huzefa Kapadia

Get Paid For Your Pad

It’s one of the oldest books about the short-term rental industry, but it remains a must-read for every host. It’s a comprehensive Airbnb guide, where its authors provide step-by-step instructions on how to create a listing and rent out your space on Airbnb.

They give you some practical advice on the most challenging aspects of managing a vacation rental—communicating with guests and building a pricing strategy. The book is very insightful, well-structured, and easy to read. It’s a great resource for everyone who’s just starting on Airbnb or wants to improve their hosting business. We highly recommend checking their blog and podcast as well.

Optimize YOUR BNB: The Definitive Guide to Ranking #1 in Airbnb Search by Daniel V. Rusteen

Optimize YOUR Bnb

This comprehensive book was written by a former Airbnb employee, current Airbnb Superhost, and owner of Optimizemybnb.com. The author provides actionable professional advice for Airbnb hosts.

You’ll learn how to optimize your Airbnb listing to achieve a high Airbnb search rank, use automation tools, and identify problems with your guests. The author also shares inside details into the vacation rental industry. The book is simple, clear, and fun to read. It’s an excellent resource for professional Airbnb hosts.

Airbnb for Dummies by Symon He and James Svetec

Airbnb for Dummies

It’s a perfect guide for both new and experienced Airbnb hosts written by Symon He and James Svetec, the team behind LearnBNB.com. Detailed and easy to follow, this informative book is packed with lots of helpful and thought-provoking tips for all types of hosts and great examples.

The authors share hacks on how you can write compelling listings, tell your property’s story in photos, improve your pricing, create a great guest experience, and grow a successful business. 

The Book on Managing Rental Properties: Find, Screen, and Manage Tenants with Fewer Headaches and Maximum Profits by Brandon and Heather Turner

The Book on Managing Rental Properties

It’s a comprehensive guide where the wife-and-husband team, Heather and Brandon Turner, share their advice on how hosts can effectively manage tenants in their rental properties. You’ll discover low-cost marketing strategies, types of tenants to avoid, practical tips to assure your tenants pay on time and stay long-term and advice on bookkeeping and taxes.

The book offers a good mix of basic property management for those new to the business and helpful hints for those that have been doing this for a while. It is well-structured, well-written, concise, and even entertaining. 

Property Management Articles on Our Blog

We didn’t write a book just yet but nearly have enough content for one. Check our articles compilation below.

Become a DIY Airbnb Host, or Hire a Property Manager?—The pros and cons of hiring a property manager vs. managing your STR property yourself.

How Much Do Property Managers Charge?—The article covers the costs of hiring a property manager, property management fees, and key responsibilities of property managers.

Vacation Rental Management: Everything You Need to Know—You’ll learn about different aspects of managing vacation rental properties and how automation software like Hospitable can help you do it.

Airbnb Pricing Strategy: Getting Started—Learn about the most important metrics for your Airbnb pricing strategy and tips on how to get the pricing right.

Airbnb Rental Agreement: Pros and Cons—Find out what information you can put into your rental agreement and how to send it to your guests.

Starting a Vacation Rental Business: 101 Guide—Find the basics of starting a vacation rental business on platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo and practical tips on how to make money. 

Best Books on Property Investing

There are many ways you can begin investing in real estate and earn extra income. To help you get started, here are some of the best books on property investing where you can find advice from experts.

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing

The author of this informative book has over 26 years of senior-level experience in multifamily asset and property management and development. He explains the basics of real estate investing.

You’ll learn how to achieve wealth through real estate, how to find and evaluate properties, negotiate deals, increase income through property management tools, and much more. The book is easy to read, so it’s perfect for beginners.

The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

The Book on Rental Property Investing

It’s a bestseller written by an active real estate investor and co-host of the Bigger Pockets Podcast where the author shares practical, time-tested strategies for real estate investors. He outlines the pros and cons of each strategy and gives readers a good overview of what they need to know at every stage of the process of buying and leasing rental properties.

You’ll learn how to create an achievable plan, find incredible deals, analyze different properties, build your team, finance rentals, and much more. This book can be useful for anyone who’s just starting in the rental property and for experienced rental owners.

Every Airbnb Host’s Tax Guide Fourth Edition by Stephen Fishman

Every Airbnb Host's Tax Guide

Investing in real estate has tax implications, just like any other type of investment. So here is a complete tax guide for Airbnb and other short-term rental hosts written by an attorney and authoritative author on taxation. It will give you insight into taxes and teach you how to make the most of your short-term rental business and adhere to IRS regulations.

Written in plain language, this guide addresses such topics as record keeping, reporting income, deducting expenses and losses, qualifying for tax-free treatment, and repairs. This information can be useful for hosts that use Airbnb, FlipKey, TripAdvisor, and Vrbo.

The new edition of this book will be released on January 25, 2022. It covers all the latest tax changes brought about by the Coronavirus legislation passed by Congress.

Read Articles on Our Blog to Learn More about Property Investing

Vacation Rental Investment: Is It Worth It?—Learn how to find a property that can generate consistent income and create a comprehensive business plan.

Best Cities for Airbnb Investment 2021—You’ll find actionable insights from Transparency, a company that provides data intelligence for the short-term rental industry. Learn about the best places to buy vacation rental property in Europe and the US in 2021.

US Short-Term Rental Outlook: What to Expect in 2021 and Beyond?—Discover insights from the US short-term rental outlook report from AirDNA to get a better understanding of what the future hold in store for short-term rental hosts.

Rental Arbitrage: How to Make Money on Airbnb without Buying a Property—a promising approach for future investors who want to get a sense of the market before buying the property.

Investing in vacation rental property and renting it out on multiple platforms can be profitable if you approach it the right way. Books and resources from our list can provide you with hacks and suggestions, but your success depends on how you implement them.

It’s also important to streamline your processes, so you’ll need a vacation rental software solution like Hospitable that can help you automate numerous routine tasks.

Your entire STR business in one convenient platform

Automate communication, create a direct booking website, manage channels, sync calendars, push pricing updates, notify your team, and much more!
Start today with a 14-day free trial.

Final Word

Managing vacation rental properties involves a lot of responsibilities, and an effective way to succeed in this industry is by learning from others. The best property management books can give you an insight into the vacation rental industry on the whole and some more specific aspects. They will expand your knowledge in the vacation rental industry and help get you started.