Writing & Publishing

      I first began using the HP12c calculator in 1984. Computers at the time were cumbersome (to say the least), and they often contained programs that were designed by people who were not ‘on the street’ doing the business of real estate. I needed answers fast. My customers and clients demanded them. Mortgage payment booklets were slow and tedious, and trying to analyze investments often involved ‘interpolation’ of an internal rate of return – a process that could take as much as 45 minutes.
      Discovering the HP12C was like discovering gold. Its pre-programmed capabilities were an incredible help, but it’s ability to store data and my own programs was beyond my expectations. There are plenty of situations where a laptop won't do, but the HP12C can easily slip into a pocket or a purse.
      The HP12C was then, and is now, the best tool for working out quick solutions to a wide range of real estate and investment questions. Used by salespersons, brokers, appraisers, loan officers, title clerks, commercial brokers, and investors, the HP12C has earned the right to continue to exist, one of the few technological advances that has not been rendered obsolete by time.
      This book is a compilation of all the techniques most commonly used to evaluate real estate transactions. It also incorporates ideas and answers that have accumulated after years of teaching real estate mathematics and investment using the HP12C. I hope you find the information useful and applicable to situations you encounter in your real estate pursuits.
At a time when your cell phone gets replaced by new technology and features every six months, it's great to have a piece of technology that has withstood the test of time - because it was always ahead of it's time.
      I’d like to thank the many hundreds of students who have attended my Mastering the Magic of the HP12C course over the years. It is your questions that have prompted so many of the ideas contained here. The appendices of this book in particular, reflect some of those great classroom discussions, which are now written out in their entirety.