Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34456 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-01
• Released on: 2006-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review

Customer Reviews

Good book but could be more balanced
This book is well written and a quick read with a fair amount of repetitiveness. The author details his experience with rental properties primarily in an era of extreme appreciation of which he bases most of his theory on. I don't believe it is realistic to expect properties to increase at the rapid rate that he suggests which is the premise behind one of the plans he outlines which is to quickly refinance and purchase properties. Keep in mind that he is located in southern Florida which was one of the fastest appreciated areas of the country during the heyday of the recent real estate boom and it was during that time that he continuously refers to. It is my opinion that the author should temper some of his claims with the fact that not all investors will be able to execute his rapid fire acquisition strategies in an environment that is dissimilar to the one he had which was very unique and uncommon. What I'm trying to say is that his assumptions are absolutely "best case" scenarios which are unlikely to be duplicated by the majority of investors.

The one other area of the book that I had a problem with was in the area of tenants. He claimed that he doesn't run background, credit, etc. checks on prospective tenants and prefers to "go with his gut" on whether he feels the tenant is suitable to occupy his property. He goes on to say that if you invest in higher quality properties you will attract higher quality tenants. That is probably true but I don't think it eliminates the need to thoroughly screen prospective tenants. I'm not sure what it's like in south Florida but I can tell you that here in Washington state there is a big problem with methamphetamine labs in rental properties. The financial liability for the property owners is huge and not covered by insurance. When these meth labs operate out of rental property,(half of all labs found do) owners pay a high price that includes: civil penalties, property damage, decline in property values, dangerous and threatening tenants, resentful and angry neighbors, and loss of valued tenants. This is nationwide problem that every potential rental property owner should be aware of. In my opinion, to not perform absolute due diligence in the screening of tenants is unnecessarily exposing yourself to a disaster with serious financial implications. Of course the potential threat doesn't disappear just because the tenant passed the screening phase. There are other monitoring measures that property owners need to follow after the tenants move in to protect the property. My advice would be to spend the money and do the checks.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it with the suggestion to readers that they play devil's advocate to arrive at a more balanced perspective of this particular type of real estate investment investing.

Better than I ever expected
Instead of delivering a few nuggets of information, this book delivers the gold mine. It's written so well that page after page, chapter after chapter, it delivers just the right information at just the right time. I couldn't put it down and read through it in just 3 evenings after work (I can't believe I'm saying that about a real estate investment book).

The author gets right to the point and gives you the facts about what works and what doesn't work for investing in real estate. He shows you how investing in multi-family properties (2 - 4 family dwellings) is the easiest, lowest cost, and least risky way to get started making your fortune. He takes you from knowing nothing to being fully armed and ready to go make your first purchase. Best of all, he shares many intimate details on his own purchases, deals he walked away from, and deals he wished he would have completed.

When you're done with the book you understand: 1) how to find properties, 2) how to determine the value of a property, 3) verification and due diligence, 4) the process of making offers, 5) how closing works and what to expect, 6) managing your property, 7) the ins and outs of the three key real estate growth strategies: Buy and Hold, Refinancing, and Pyramiding.

Now that I have read this book, I'm already out looking at multi-family properties and will soon be completing my first purchase. I'm just an average guy with not much in savings, but with what I have learned from this book I can see a clear path to making several million dollars in real estate in just a few years. All that for just the $12.97 I paid for this book on Amazon... it almost seems unfair.

Very informative
I am an owner of a few rental properties which I kind of stumbled upon but which have provided me with some steady income. I was intrigued and decided to pick up Mr. Loftis' book.

My experience has been in lower class neighborhoods. While Mr. Loftis touches upon investing in areas such as those, he prefers to buy triplexes/fourplexes in "yuppie" areas. He clearly states that the monthly income from the lower class areas is usually higher, but that the appreciation in the higher end areas more than makes up for that.

Loftis' explanation is quite detailed. He explains how to use the GRM to help you find a suitable property. By fixing up your property in a high GRM neighborhood, you can build considerable equity.

He also explains how he chooses his renters and has some example leases that you can use. He debunks some of the "wisdom" spewed out by many of the real estate "gurus". He explains how to use a 1031 exchange to free up some capital for further investment and how you can use refinancing to do the same.

In short, there is everything here to get you started on your way to being a successful residential multifamily property investor. Give the book a try...