Customer Reviews

Lease-Purchase America!: Acquiring Real Estate in the 90's and Beyond

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found Lease Purchase America very helpful and informative, and the concepts worked for me. I bought a real estate investment course which talked about the concepts of a lease with option to purchase, but there were still many gray areas left untouched. After reading Lease Purchase America, I was able to work out a deal on a four- family and get it with "no money down" (well, there was some money exchanged, but it came from my credit card in the form of the option payment, which the bank never knew about because I took out the mortgage loan a year later). I had the seller raise the price a little, and got a 50 percent rent credit. (The seller had to pay a little more in capital gains, but he still got full asking price--and without any real estate commission.) Since then, using the techniques, I've lease optioned a couple investment properties to others, getting full asking price. Ross explains lease options in simple detail for those getting started, and has many good ideas contained within his book; it really covers the nuts and bolts of buying and selling small properties with lease options. The only major problem with the book is that if you lend it to an investor friend, you might not see it again. (I'd give it 5 stars, but nothing is perfect.)

I've personally been investing in real estate since December 1996 and have bought over a million dollars worth of houses and apartments with no money down techniques. For the past year or so I've been trying to piece together a lease-purchase concept to use to buy large properties, so I had hopes this book would bring everything together.(No one in my area knows how to do these things! Population 60,000!) Unfortunately, the book ended up being a nice story, kind of a pep-talk for the concept. Some surface details were given about how much to get up front, what kind of ad might lead to a good prospect, etc., but no real substance like sample contract agreements, legal or tax considerations, what happens if the lease- purchasers back out and decide to sue you to get their option money back,-- all the real world details that seriously matter when trying to put these deals together. I'm going to give Mr. Ross the benefit-of-the-doubt and assume he really meant well when writing this book, but thank goodness it only costs $7-8, because it seriously lacks the real substance and technical details you need to get started.

I have spent thousands of dollars on dozens of books and home study courses on how to get rich in real estate. I have found that the concepts and methods in Lease Purchase America are by for the simplest and easiest I have ever tried. I read the entire book in just a few hours and applied what I learned the next day on a property I had already made several offers on. I've made more money in three weeks than I had made in the previous year. Lease Purchase is now my full time business and I will never buy propeties any other way again. Everything I needed to know was in the book including a word for word presentation for buyers and sellers. The only way this does not work is if you don't do it. Thank you John Ross.

This book is a good read, but not for the intended purpose. The book gives a realistic setting, "How I went from nothing to something," and gives little useful advise. More sizzle than steak.

If you want to know or get a surface idea of Lease Purchase's this book will let you know if you want to waste your time digging further into the subject.