I just purchased my first rental property, a duplex, on June 29th. I bought this book several months ago from Amazon in order to become familiar with landlording, and have been pleased with its contents. Very informative and provides you with info that is not only useful and necessary, but will keep you out of trouble! The only drawback is the page numbers on the forms in the back of the book. You can use "white-out" to hide the page numbers, but it's somewhat of a pain. The comics throughout the book could be entertaining to some, but I could have done without those as well. Those who have been landlording for awhile would most likely not benefit from this book, but for beginners like me, it's great!

I bought both this book and Nolo's Every Landlord's Legal Guide thinking they would address different things. I really wish I didn't waste my time reading Landlording! It's verbose and wastes 75% of the book (and your time) trying to be cute with silly examples. The information is in there but you have to weed through a morass of text just to get to it. I couldn't believe how much more succinct and effective Every Landlord's was, providing ALL the same information with none of the bs. And that comes with a free CD of all the documents you'll need. I agree with the other reviewers that the information is useful. But there are much better ways to get at it. If you don't believe me, go to a bookstore and look before you buy.

Get this book. I'm a first time landlord. I read this book before I signed my first tenant/landlord contract. Refer to it all the time. This book will not show you how to cash in on tax deductions, but will tell you everything you need to know about managing a property. I would recommend "Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide" by Stephen Fishman if you want an easy to read and comprehensive guide to tax deductions for your rental business.