Frank Gallinelli

First, the professional side: I am the author of "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow...," now in its third edition. It is actually about a lot more than just cash flow. It provides readers with a basic grasp of how income property investments really work and serves as a handbook for understanding essential financial measures related to real estate investing. I have a second book, "Insider Secrets to Financing Your Real Estate Investments," which was released in December 2004. In 2008 I released "Mastering Real Estate Investment," a sequel of sorts to the "Cash Flow" book.

Readers of my books have often asked if I planned to give any classes on this material, so at last I released an online video course, "Mastering Real Estate Investing." You can find a complete outline of the course content at learn.realdata.com

My company's website, realdata.com, has a strong educational component and I write a series of articles about real estate investment and development for that site. Speaking of education, I also served for 15 years as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Columbia University's Master of Science in Real Estate Development program, teaching real estate finance.

I founded RealData in 1981 to provide usable, affordable software for investors and developers who weren't necessarily proficient with computers. Most of our products perform pro-forma analyses that range from basic to quite sophisticated. Besides information about this software, my company's site offers a variety of resources that you should find useful if you're interested in real estate investing or development.

On the personal side: I started off life in Hoboken, NJ, home of the other Frank -- the one who could sing. We moved to Connecticut when I was about six and that's where I've lived ever since. I graduated from Yale in 1968 and then taught English and math for several years in New Haven. That might explain why I've written books with a lot of formulas and no split infinitives. I received a graduate degree in education, then left the classroom to go into real estate, became an investor, and the rest, to coin a cliche, is history.

My wife Jean and I have been married for more than 50 years. We have a son who taught for 13 years in China and Korea. He is now back in the states with his wife and daughter, living just a healthy bike ride away. We're fortunate to have our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson also living within jogging distance.

My CV notwithstanding, I always wanted to be a writer, although the great American novel was really what I had in mind. Nonetheless, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be launched into print. And maybe that novel is still lurking somewhere.