How to Invest in Rental Properties: Without Mortgaging Your Soul [Paperback]

Mabel Armstrong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2003

This step-by-step guide leads readers through the process of obtaining rental properties, from analyzing neighborhoods and properties to finding good loans and helpful professionals. Start small and grow to wealth without straining the pocketbook or compromising values.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mabel Armstrong bought her first fixer-upper in 1987 - on her credit card. Starting with little cash and no experience, she taught herself the investment skills she needed, and built a rental property portfolio approaching $2 million. Along the way she also learned to rehabilitate distressed properties. Armstrong's investments allowed her to leave her college teaching position five years after she bought her first duplex. She lives in Oregon where she is active in community affairs and tries to model the book's message that enlightened owners to enhance their communitites and the environment as well as make a good living.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Stone Pine Press (November 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972892907
• ISBN-13: 978-0972892902
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,250,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Empowering, Enjoyable Investment Guide, February 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Invest in Rental Properties: Without Mortgaging Your Soul (Paperback)

Mabel Armstrong has accomplished a difficult task with her book, How to Invest in Rental Properties without Mortgaging Your Soul. She has written a thorough, step-by-step investment guide with clear, accessible language and an encouraging, friendly tone. She explains basic investment principles in a simple, logical way, but personalizes the information she provides with individual case examples, many of them her own. To this reader, Armstrong sounds like a real estate investment expert; but because she provides stories of her own confusion and inexperience, I trusted her and believed I was capable of doing what she has done.

If real estate investment seems like a dry subject, be prepared for a surprise. Armstrong's guide has an attractive cover and layout, a wonderful chapter on social responsibility, and an overall personal style I found thoroughly enjoyable. I felt as if I got to know this likeable author through her personal anecdotes, and felt as if she wouldn't mind if I telephoned her to ask for advice. In addition, the book is an empowering read: Even when the details get complicated, Armstrong breaks them down into orderly, do-able tasks, so the reader is left feeling I can do this!

Though its focus is real estate, I'd recommend this book to anyone who is ready to learn more about taking responsibility for her money.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid guide to turning a profit on small rental properties, June 12, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Invest in Rental Properties: Without Mortgaging Your Soul (Paperback)

How To Invest In Rental Properties Without Mortgaging Your Soul is a solid guide to turning a profit on small rental properties, which provice the safest and highest return on investment and can offer supplemental income or retirement security. Chapters address common myths about real estate, how to finance one's purchase, managing one's business and the basics of fixing up property for fun and profit, common financial mistakes that women in particular are susceptible to (such as treating clothing as a financial investment or being reluctant to take even small risks), and much more. An excellent all-in-one introduction to the benefits and pitfalls of the real estate world.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't really explain anything, April 5, 2006

By 

A. Lee (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Invest in Rental Properties: Without Mortgaging Your Soul (Paperback)

I thought that she was going to explain to you how to invest in rental properties without going into deep debt for yourself. However, the truth is you need money to invest in real estate. So, there's really no way around it, which made her book redundant. She just gave examples of 3 people with 3 different investment strategies. In the end, the one with the most number of rental properties ended up with the largest profit growth. I really did not find the book useful for someone looking to invest in rental properties.