Nothing Down for the 2000s: Dynamic New Wealth Strategies in Real Estate [Hardcover]

Robert G. Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2004

With more than a million copies in print, Robert Allen's "Nothing Down for the '90s" has probably helped more people achieve success in real estate than any book in history. Countless numbers of his readers are now financially independent and many actual millionaires attribute their wealth to his techniques. Why has this blockbuster bestseller been so successful? The answer is simple: it works! Now, in one of the most practical books you'll ever read, Robert Allen has created effective new wealth strategies for investing in real estate.

Real estate remains the one reliable investment in which profits can be made consistently, no matter where you live. Whether employment figures and stock prices are high or low, the real estate market never dries up -- it is one of the most dynamic income-producing vehicles ever created. The demand for housing will continue to be strong in most areas of the country for the foreseeable future. There will, of course, always be plenty of foreclosures, which are great opportunities to purchase properties cheaply. And, finally, mortgage qualification today is simpler than ever, with new mortgage packages that did not even exist twenty years ago.

"Nothing Down for the 2000s" shows you how to locate the best buys, deal with real estate agents, and manage properties, all with little -- or no -- money down. Discover step-by-step techniques and dynamic strategies to:

- Use real estate to build monthly income

- Finance bargain properties for equity or cash flow

- Guarantee and secure your retirement

- Find and profit from foreclosures before they are publicly listed

- Sell and trade for maximum gain

- Increase property value

- Use owner financing to create opportunities

- Obtain direct, legal tax cuts

- Profit from conversions

- Develop effective negotiation techniques, and much more

Excellent for beginners or experienced investors, "Nothing Down for the 2000s" is the key to generating low-risk, high-profit wealth and to a potential future of security and financial independence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Real estate is both the "simplest, easiest, safest, shortest route to financial freedom" and an invigorating self-help regimen, insists this latest edition of the bestselling financial primer. Real-estate guru Allen’s system has two tenets: 1) buy residential rental properties from desperate "don’t-wanter" sellers, and 2) pay "nothing down," using "Other People’s Money." After a broad but incomplete introduction to conducting and valuing real-estate transactions, he gets down to the nitty-gritty. Tenet 1 requires searching classified ads, hunting for For Sale signs, rummaging through foreclosure, bankruptcy and divorce records and otherwise beating the bushes for motivated sellers, then wangling the price down further. Tenet 2 requires a labyrinth of "creative" financing schemes involving various combinations of partnerships, options, floating bank loans, life-insurance policies, unsecured notes, second and third mortgages on multiple properties and other "paper formulas." Allen sells this program, with much motivational hectoring, as an opportunity for self-actualization. He insists that the only barriers to success are fear and lack of imagination, provides readers with worksheets to help them set concrete goals and discover their purpose in life, and suggests a visualization methodology called Neurobics to get them fantasizing about the wealth that will be theirs in the real-estate business (after an initial "starvation period"). Despite himself, Allen portrays real estate not as a safe and simple road to riches but as an all-consuming life project, full of endless trolling for leads, hardball negotiations, murky wheeling and dealing and sudden scrambles to meet financing deadlines and loan payments. Personality types who thrive on such a highly leveraged career of risk-taking and sharp practice will love this book. Others may balk at the total reconstruction of character and lifestyle Allen’s book appears to demand.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Robert G. Allen is one of America's most famous and most influential financial advisers of all time. After graduating with an MBA from Brigham Young University in 1974, Allen began making small real-estate investments, transforming his tiny nest egg into a large, multimillion-dollar net worth in a few short years. He shared his powerful system with the public in the #1 national bestseller Nothing Down, with forty-six weeks on the New York Times national bestseller list. He followed that success with Creating Wealth, with well over three quarters of a million copies in print. His other major bestsellers include Multiple Streams of Income and The One-Minute Millionaire. For over twenty years, Robert Allen has been successfully sharing his wealth-building techniques in popular seminars throughout the fifty states and Canada. A popular television and radio guest, he has appeared on hundreds of programs, including Good Morning America and Larry King Live. He has also been featured in such national publications as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Barron's, Money magazine, and Reader's Digest.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; Rev Upd edition (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743261550
• ISBN-13: 978-0743261555
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book - but doesn't explain the risks., September 17, 2004

By 

Stuart Gardner "www.sdgardner.com" (Fair Lawn, NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Nothing Down for the 2000s: Dynamic New Wealth Strategies in Real Estate (Hardcover)

Buying a property for no or little money down is possible, and this book shows the principals and strategy for making alot of money from the property market using this strategy. It's money well spent in comparison to the Sunday morning info-mercials on this topic.

There is NOT good coverage of the RISKS. Allen is suggesting the most highly leveraged transactions you clould ever enter (short of buying futures on margin). Win, win big. Loose - you are Bankrupt (if your starting with minimum assets).

This is a good way to make money, there are risks and you must understand them. As well as knowing your market.

If you buy with no money down AND the market is going up you can't really loose. The things that spoil this, are:
* Macro economics - interest rates go out of control.
* Local markets. E.g. what is going to happen to the property market in Florida after the sting of hurricans?

The author brings home the power of leverage (this is pivotal to growing your net worth, whatever your strategy). He doesn't cover off the risks so well. Must have for prospective real estate investor; but underplays the downside.

Post Script: Clearly the people who wrote the next couple of reviews really don't like any critique of Allen's work. I wrote this book "UNDERPLAYS" the downside, I didn't argue the book ignores it. For example, the medium and long term impact on Florida's real estate values can't be determined yet - insurance increases and coverage issues wont surface for at least a few months, when they do, it will impact premiums. The damage and loss will also act as a detterant to potential buyers considering a move.

The exit strategies outlined in the book are superficial. Also, in the simplest of terms, getting rid of don't want property in a down market is very hard work (it isn't always possible).

This book addresses the risks of the last property crash quite well, and is not a get rich quick book. It does not, however,(IMHO)address SYSTEMIC or MARKET risk adequately. As pointed out, it was on the NY times best seller list for weeks (btw you can now pick it up really cheaply new or secondhand on Amazon, $8 off list price, cheaper than Barnes & Noble - mine will be listed shortly; this is a great service Amazon provides).

Timing the market is great in theory, but buy high sell higher is very hard work in a crash!!!!! Of course, we aren't heading for one .... there is no need to worry. Buy high sell higher can be fools gold - in particular if the market is a BUBBLE (for a good account of every market bubble since the Sixteenth Century read 'Devil take the hindmost: A history of financial speculation, Edward Chancellor.

I still think this is a good book, but want a better one? My suggestions would be Managing Rental Properties for Maximum Profit, or Investing in Real Estate 4th edition (very good coverage of leverage). I'm looking to buy my second US investment property (my previous realestate experience has been overseas) and I am researching my next steps.

Although this is an interesting and good book, the advice in these alternatives appears much more realistic and sound.

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is your purpose for investing in real estate?, September 14, 2004

By 

Mark (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing Down for the 2000s: Dynamic New Wealth Strategies in Real Estate (Hardcover)

One of the things that impressed me the most about this newly revised edition of Nothing Down and about Bob Allen in particular is the emphasis of finding your purpose. This is something that no other real estate author talks about.

Most real estate books you get the usual do this, do that. With Allen you get all of that too PLUS Allen shows you how to find your purpose or why real estate investing might not even be for you!

Nothing Down for the 2000's is a great book and deserving of it's high ranking here at Amazon.

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I finally bought this one!, September 7, 2004

By 

Mark Forrester "a proud American" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing Down for the 2000s: Dynamic New Wealth Strategies in Real Estate (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of personal development and financial books for quite some time and of course am very familiar with Robert Allen. Seeing the new release of this classic, I decided to shell out the (--) to buy it at our local Borders.

Unlike 24 years ago when the original version of Nothing Down came out, these techniques are no longer new. Robert Allen does have a way of communicating these methods in an easy to read and understandable way.

The testimonials were exciting and encouraging as well. And I enjoyed the people skills techniques that Robert Allen teaches.

Nothing Down is a great book and I highly recommend it.