Customer Reviews

Landlording on Auto-Pilot: A Simple, No-Brainer System for Higher Profits and Fewer Headaches

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I thought this was one of the best books on managing people and investment assets that I have read. However, one of the primary reasons that I bought the book was for the forms. I should have checked the website first I guess. When I went to download my free forms I was not pleased. First, the links in the books didn't work, I had to hunt and peck my way through several websites to find a "free form" download page. Then I am provided a buton to click to buy the forms in a convienent package for $80. Or I can complete a form with my info to get them emailed to me one at a time. I would have to complete the form for each form I want emailed to me. Then I see that they are charging for specific forms that they state are free in the book.

All in all the book was a good value. I feel however that the Free Forms was a bait and switch and it will prevent me form purchasing any items from Mike Butler in the future. I did email his company form the contact form on the website. All that got me was a barage of spam email from them on seminars, software etc.... I am hoping that I will get somewhere with them and then I can update this review.

We purchased this book right about the time we were buying our first rental property. It was worth every penny and some. It's an easy read - you feel like you're just having a good heart-to-heart with someone who's been there and done that. Mike's advice will save you from making beginner mistakes and point you in the right direction every time. His advice is sound and he brings up many items that the first-time rental property owner would never think of.

What's as good is the fact that after reading the book you are given websites where you can download free forms - which I must say has saved us HOURS.

If you are just beginning in the rental property business or have not seemed to have much luck - I say this a MUST-READ!!!!

1/2/09 - We were one of the first to purchase this book - and the first to post a review. At the time, the forms, although kind of tricky to download, were free. However, it does seem like Mike is trying to make money from webinars, seminars, etc...and it doesn't surprise me he is now charging for the forms. That was one of the main reasons I gave the book 5 stars - the free forms made it worth everything. I didn't want anyone to think I had misled them initially.

This book has great ideas, however; it promises forms that every landlord needs. They are very difficult to download from the website & you have to pay to get them in the end.

What's more, is it's all to get you to his website so he can sell you everything under the sun from web seminars to packets of his forms and they are all very pricey.

It seems to me that all he cares about is getting huge amounts of money.

It's not unlike a high pressure infomercial.

For me, I won't be buying anything from him again.

This book was a big disappointment and I am not sure how it got so many positive reviews. I could tell from the beginning that the author was not that intelligent and that the book was not well written and catered to a blue collar, non-educated audience. Still, I gave the author the benefit of the doubt and kept reading hoping to find some morsel of time saving advice as I have 5 kids and 4 rental properties and a very busy life. The book discusses much in generalities and more than half the book talks about problems with rentals and does not give any solutions to the problems outlined.
I will give one example of the stupidity in this book: It says that everything in a rental should last at least 5 years so that your tenant should have to be responsible for repairs for the first 5 years of his tenancy. Duh, did it occur to the writer that my rental may have a well functioning 10 year old washing machine that might konk out the first year my tenant moves in? Does he mean to imply that I should replace everything that is functioning well so that I can then tell the tenant it is your fault it broke. This is just absurd. Another bad advice he gives is to let prospective tenants check out a key and go see the property themselves so as to save time. Although this may indeed save time you are losing in two ways by doing this: 1) You are losing a valuable opportunity to meet the tenants in person before you process the application and see what kind of people they are 2) you are losing a valuable opportunity to sell the benefits of your property. I frequently can alleviate concerns my tenants have and anwer questions that will make them more likely to take my rental. For example, you can tell them the neighborhood is safe, or that there is a great park across the street if you see they have kids, or can point out that the new deck is maintenance and splinter free. You are losing a great opportunity to gain a tenant.
Lastly, whatever is of value in this book could probably be condensed into one chapter instead of all the hype and no real suggestions. I must add that the author also ignores completely using real estate agents to get tenants or look for properties. Although it can sometimes be costly, it is certainly better than having a rental vacant for 6 months. This option should at least be mentioned in all his long talk about ways to get tenants.
I am a graduate of Yale Law School and take my advice, this book is written catering to a very low level audience. The author throws fancy words around to make himself seem sophisticated instead of actually giving a shred of real information.

P.S. Two things I have found of GREAT help are:1)Quicken Rental Property Manager which is a software to keep track of rental expenses and income (very easy to use and well worth the cost, I think it even has a money back guarantee) and 2) Nolo's "Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide" by Stephen Fishman which is ESSENTIAL and excellent for any landlord.

Like other reviewers I liked the book and looked forward to the free forms but there aren't any. Even though the book refers to the Free Forms throughout. The authors web site is a mess of flea market style marketing which sells a hodge podge of junk information. He had something good going with his book but drops the ball with such a poor website. There is no excuse for not delivering on the free forms or at least explaining why they aren't there. Whoever advised him of this approach to sales is doing him a disservice. This book will be the LAST PRODUCT I EVER BUY FROM HIM.

I found the book to be an easy read with many good ideas. The only real gripe is that when I attempted to download the free forms which are advertised on the back cover in bold, underlined print, I was only able to get some, the remainder required payment. I emailed the authors web site asking how I could obtain all of the free forms that they show in the book, but never received a reply.

Update May 1, 2010: In preparation for my tenants vacating I thought I'd refer to this book again for move out suggestions. This section is all of a single page, front and back, and basically says to use his Move Out Package which is a series of documents. Those are the same documents that I couldn't get previously. I went back to the web site to see if perhaps he had corrected the missing documents issue since I was last there a couple of years ago. The page where I would sign up for the free forms requires a name and email address then provides a button to Click Here to get the free forms. After submitting my data I got an email asking to confirm my email address. I did, and was taken to a page that said I was signed up to get eNews updates and info, but nothing whatsoever about the free forms.

Update May 4, 2010: After making further inquiries about the missing free forms I received a reply from Mike Butler. To paraphrase the reply, he wanted me to understand that he had done a lot of work getting his real estate business going and the products he was offering are very valuable. He made it clear that the writing on the book says "Free Forms" and not "All Forms are Free". He then went on to say that if I found the forms valuable I could re-type them for my use. The fee he charges for the forms that aren't free is done to help provide free services to investors and to help maintain his business operations. Lastly it seems I am one of a small portion of people that "get very confused" over this issue. Well, if I were to advertise a property for rent with utilities included, and the second month I hand the tenant a utility bill and tell him he has to pay it, that "utilities included" didn't mean for the duration of the stay, I think I'd have an understandably angry tenant on my hands. According to the BBB Mike's Vista Properties, Inc. is given an F rating on an A+ to F scale, I can see why. I'm now leery of using his advice since I have to wonder how many of his suggestions are actually techniques to dupe honest people.

Some authors, and even some investors, normally advise the routes which lead around the seemingly scary Landlord option. Mike Butler breaks through all of the barriers that many of us relate to Landlords and landlording. I am very pleased with the straight-forward explanations along with his Kentucky humor. Mix this book in with other authors like Robert Kiyosaki, Peter Conti & David Finkel, Michael A. Lechter and Ken McElroy to really spice up your views of investing and take it to a higher level. This book has caused me not only to rethink Landlording as an option, but also opened my mind to owning a multitude of single family homes vice apartments/condos.

Thank you Mike Butler!

Book was ok from a way he does things for himself but it is the way he use to do things as he does not do them anymore so now with technology changing it may no longer be useful, like old way technology such as using pagers also he does go overboard on his marketing type "A" for all he wants to do is look for ways to charge you more money if he can just check out his website.

Basically, he is looking to capitalize on money schemes, as like others who posted, the book says you get free forms thru his web site, don't count on it he charges you, they are not free, and the forms he gives in the book he charges you on his web site even though it says free, he has to charge you seven dollars or more just to get the free ones you don't have. So not really free. Good marketing tactic though.

Also he does have some questionable contradicting items, an example in his book, he says why not have a 36 month lease. Makes sense but then later in the book he says you should be charging an annual increase in rent to keep up with higher taxes, increased expenses, ect.. you can not raise your rents on a lease that is locked in for 36 months. There are other items but I won't go into detail not worth my time to type them all out. I give him credit for his pushing for your money and does a job at that. Just check out his website first before you buy the book you'll see $$. A lot of this information that he is telling you is common knowledge, but at least he credits the people who work for him. It wasn't a bad read but not on my top 10 books.

All common sense items that you could figure out on your own, he does a good job of explaining his way of doing things in the book, Do yourself a favor go to the library to read first and save yourself $ in your pocket if you like it then buy the book.

I purchased Butlers book, "Landlording on Auto Pilot with the understanding that there were free downloadable forms. There are free downloadable forms. The book gives a specific link for obtaining these "free forms". I attempted this when I first purchased the book a few months ago and again this week. I thought perhaps it was just me. I e-mailed Butlers organization and they sent me a link with a code. I went there downloaded the forms. I even had 2 choices for each form pdf and word documents. When I attempted to open them after downloading they were gobble de gook and totally unusable. I went back to the web site and looked at them again and discovered that they can't even be opened at the site. I get the feeling that this offer for free forms is a fraudulent come on to enhance book sales. The content of the book is good. Lots of great ideas and the forms can be purchased but like another reviewer this left a bad taste in my mouth and I have unsubscribed from Butlers weekly pitch mails and don't intend to do business with someone that won't make good on their promises. Again I can appreciate the intellectual property right value of the free product. I just think it's in bad taste to offer it and then intentionally convolute the process. On another note in comparison, I purchased Luciers book on pre foreclosures as he made the same offer of free forms. The forms were readily available as word documents at the said web address in the book, I downloaded them onto my hard drive and will be utilizing them in my business as they are needed.

The book is worth the money. Mike shouldn't advertise "Includes FREE Customizable, downloadable form!" since the links don't work and charges for some of them.