Customer Reviews

Increase Your Income and Wealth Buying Apartment Buildings

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a seasoned apartment-building investor and broker, I would recommend this book only to someone who is new to real estate investing. At 119 pages of text, there is simply not much detail here for those who already own some investment property. I can't say I got one new idea from the book, and that's unusual.

Yes, I do agree that 2+ -unit multi-family properties are your best investment, outperforming the stock market by a factor of 3x and with low risk. However, I do not agree with the author's premise that your best bet is to pay off all the mortgages on your properties within 10 years and then live off the cash flow. This is NOT a strategy most knowledgeable investors would follow. Why? Because the money you are using to make additional principal payments on your existing properties could instead be used to buy more buildings, or improve the ones you own, resulting in significantly higher after-tax gains in the long term.

In reality, for the highest returns, your best bet is to leverage yourself to the max: Never put down more than 15% on a property, and try to put down the least amount you can and still get the property to "cash flow." (Just make sure you keep a cash reserve in the bank equal to at least 3 months of expenses.) If you do have excess cash flow, spend it on those building improvements that will allow you to directly raise rents as a result. After 5 years, either re-finance the property to pull your equity out and invest that in a new property (and repeat every 5 years), or "flip" this property into a larger property and do this repeatedly every 5 years.

Recommended reading instead of this book:
1.) "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Martin Stone and Spencer Strauss. (Practically REQUIRED for new or novice investors.)
2.) "How to Buy and Sell Apartment Buildings" by Eugene E. Vollucci. (Better for more seasoned investors than this book.)
3.) "The Income Stream" by Robert M. Goodman. (Shows how to calculate the real rate of return on investment properties....

Quite simply, there is absolutely nothing of substance in this book. I wouldn't even recommend it to a novice. A complete waste of my time and money!

The book adds zero value to anyone with even rudimentary knowledge of real estate investing. It's mostly filled with pictures of houses in two different states showing how prices were different for the two states decades ago. The point was made after the first sentence stating that fact.

This is the BEST real estate book I've read - and I've brought almost every real estate book available on amazon[.com] or it's in my wish list. He states he is targeting African Americans. I am as white as they come - and this book is NOT just for African Americans - it's for everyone.
I am a novice. Most of the time the real estate "gurus" are so busy trying to motivate you to buy - or explain "creative financing" that they leave out the basics - what to actually do. How to take the FIRST STEP.
This book gives what questions to ask - gives examples and pictures (which helps since in my research I've been amazed at how reasonably priced investment homes are - and the pictures helped me to understand that yes it is that easy)
I cannot praise this book enough - and am buying 2 more copies today because I don't want to part with mine - I want it with me when I call on properties.