Making Big Money Investing in Real Estate: Without Tenants, Banks, or Rehab Projects [Paperback]

Peter Conti (Author), David Finkel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2002

People who have followed the authors’ model have bought and sold more than $100 million in real estate over the past ten years.

Making great deals in real estate is one of the surest paths to financial and investment success. But with real estate, it’s all too easy to get bogged down with concerns about rehabbing, tenants, or bank financing. While the standard methods of investing-flipping, rehabbing, and landlording-can be effective, alternative strategies can create a much quicker positive cash flow.

In Making Big Money Investing in Real Estate without Tenants, Banks, or Rehab Projects, successful real estate investors Peter Conti and David Finkel share the money-making secrets of purchase option investing. There are numerous ways to invest using creative financing deals with little or no cash down. The co-authors’ field-tested tactics have worked for people from all walks of life-from stay-at-home moms to entrepreneurs. "If they can do it, you can do it," say the authors. They prove their point when sharing nearly 30 success stories and case studies.

Taking readers step-by-step through their model, the authors offer strategies and techniques, explaining what to do and how to do it. They share detailed checklists, marketing pieces, scripts, and forms-everything that investors will need to be successful. Each chapter is packed with proven advice for any reader who wants to:

• Negotiate the best price-including the actual wording that makes sellers say "yes."

• Overcome seller objections and close a deal.

• Build an escape hatch and otherwise lower risks.

• Buy property without ever talking to a banker.

• Sell for top dollar through rent-to-own deals.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book contains the best real estate negotiation strategies I've ever read." -- Robert J. Bruss, Tribune Media Services

About the Author

An ex-auto mechanic turned real estate millionaire, Peter Conti is one of the nation’s leading real estate experts. Over the past 10 years, his students have bought and sold over $500 million of property.  He is the co-author of How to Create Multiple Streams of Income Buying Homes in Nice Areas with Nothing Down, which was selected as one of the all-time top three investing books by the American Real Estate Investors Association. Over the past eight years, thousands of investors have attended his workshops and seminars.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing; Original edition (May 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793154154
• ISBN-13: 978-0793154159
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

199 of 215 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Which reviews to believe? the 30 dated on July 16, 2002??, March 1, 2003

By 

Matthew Maidhoff (staten island, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Big Money Investing in Real Estate: Without Tenants, Banks, or Rehab Projects (Paperback)

Finished reading this book quickly and am very interested in starting a RE investing career. The Authors paint a lovely picture of financial freedom. The purchase option lease in theory sounds very inticing.
I have 3 problems:
1) They never give you the language to use in with the seller in hammering out a contract. And knowing the bare minimum about investing in real Estate I am thinking you need some VERY specific legal language in any kind of deal like this. So now, i need to go about paying a real estate lawyer a big chunk of change to write the contract for me? And this can be done overnight? Before the owner changes his mind..?
2) It could take literally months and months to find a tenant-buyer - and then what, $2,000 a month that I dont have is coming out of my pocket?
3) The big red flag here: - I had come to the review section looking for some honest feedback - And then proceed to find about 30 of the 50 reviews all posted on or about July 16, 2002.
And 90% all give 5 stars. Unfortunately Ive become more skeptical because of this.. And not many actual testimonials of people giving actual sucess stories.. Only things like "what a great book" and "the best real estate book money can buy" etc etc

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book - helped me acquire 13 properties in 1 year, February 7, 2005

By 

Peter C. Geisheker "Marketing Consultant" (Green Bay, WI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Big Money Investing in Real Estate: Without Tenants, Banks, or Rehab Projects (Paperback)

This is a great motivational book to help you get started in real estate investing. This book inspired me to get started in real estate investing and in my first year I acquired 13 properties.

However, there is still A LOT of risk. The authors make everything sound like it is very simple and I can tell you from first hand experience that it is not. The book will give you a good background of how a lease option works and how to get a homeowner to lease option their home to you.

Where the book falls short is on the fine details and the risk. For instance, the book does not give you any sample contracts. The authors instead want you to buy their CD ROM of forms which they charge a small fortune for. I found the lease option contract form I use on the Internet for about $25 and saved myself a bundle.

And now the risk. Problems you WILL face are:

1. Tenants making late rent payments. Can you afford to cover a lease payment to the homeowner if your tenant is broke and 15+ days late paying his/her rent? For each home you put under a lease option, you face the risk of your tenants being late on their rent and you having to cover the lease payments you are legally entitled to pay the homeowner.

2. Tenants who back out of their lease agreement and stop making their lease payments. It may take you 2-4 months to find a new qualified tenant, especially if it happens in winter and you live in a northern region (people don't like to move when it is cold and there is snow). Can you afford to make lease payments to the homeowner during this period?

3. Bounced rent checks from your tenants. This is a fun one. You deposit your tenant's check and then pay your lease payment to the homeowner. Then, your tenant's check bounces. Hopefully you have enough money in the bank to cover your lease payment to the homeowner or your check will bounce too.

If you want to get into real estate investment, this book is a great place to start. Just be aware that it is not nearly as easy as the authors want you to believe it is and there is a lot of risk involved. But then again, in any type of investing, there will be risk, and the rewards of real estate investing almost always outweigh the risk.

I am thankful I read this book because it gave me the motivation and confidence I needed to get started investing in real estate. And, in my first year of investing in real estate, I have made over $50,000.

71 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time or money. This is an insult., February 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Big Money Investing in Real Estate: Without Tenants, Banks, or Rehab Projects (Paperback)

Yet another book written by authors with slim or no real world experience. Sure, they are master salesmen who say all the right words and assemble all the standard ideas we've all seen a hundred times before into one neat package, but they are ACTING the part of real estate investors. Sure, they've done a deal or two, but the money they've made in the real estate investment business pales in comparison to the money their books imply they've made. And don't get me started on the money they're making selling books, tapes, boot camps and mentoring services.

Image is everything and believe you me, they know it. Real investors reading their books may be impressed at how well they are organized and how they include all the right forms and scripts and all that other jazz. I'll give them that much. Yes, they understand how to assemble pretty books that are highly readable. But, there are NO new ideas, certainly NO ORIGINAL IDEAS, and much of the information is recognizable as being lifted from other authors' books where those original ideas were first mentioned.

The authors are excellent students of the teaching game. When they set out to write a new book, I'm betting they order every other book on the subject, take notes, make lists and outlines, and eventually assemble a book that "defines" the subject. If that's what you consider a good value, then this is a book for you. But don't you think they should be required to add something new to the mix? Heck no, just throw in a very general success story or two from students who did something similar to what they teach and voila, bestseller.

Finkel and Conti have mastered the art of packaging. Do that well, include all the buzz words, pretty charts and forms, and then add a couple testimonials from past students and you will sell millions...to wannabee investors who just don't know better.

Real real estate investors don't care about image or tons and tons of generalized, shop worn ideas that get dragged out every decade or so by the lastest and greatest guru on the real estate seminar circuit. Real investors want to make money in the real estate business and will gladly pay for new, cutting-edge ideas they can use to make money in their investment businesses. This book simply FAILS TO DELIVER ANYTHING NEW that will assist them in doing just that.