Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I bought the first edition of this book back in 1983. Went to work, bought my first home nothing down and then went on to buy several rental properties all with nothing down. The advice works.

In this new edition, you will find very little new and that is not to attack Allen, the fact of the matter is what worked 20 years ago still works today.

If you are like me, if you have the older edition all dog eared, worned out with cliff notes and pages falling out, you will probably doas I did and buy this edition as well just to have a new fresh copy. Or perhaps you have loaned out the book and never had it returned.

There are some updates that are worth reading. Overall this is the all time real estate classic for buying real estate with Nothing Down. I also recommend Real Estate Money Machine by Wade Cook for cash flowing real estate. By the way, I first heard of Wade Cook via Robert Allen who wholeheartily recommends Wade Cook's real estate books and strategies.

I only heard of Robert Allen due to the high rating of this book here at Amazon. Then I went to Wal Mart and found that they were selling it and customers were buying this book like crazy so I made the purchase.


So far, I have only gotten through about half of the book but boy am I impressed! I wish I would have known about this guy long ago.

Robert Allen, where have you been all my life?

The whole book is great, but the chapter on lease options was especially graifying to me. I found that I could go through my local newspaper, look up both homes for sales and even homes for rent and find all sorts of deals.

When you buy the book go straight to the chapter on lease options. It's worth the price of the book alone.

Nothing Down is a fantastic book on how to investprofitably in real estate. Easy to see why Nothing Down has sold millions of copies and was on the NY Times best seller lists for 46 weeks.

What I like about Allen's book is that it is not a get rich quick book. Allen offers a realistic approach to invest successfully in real estate and without the buy and hold mentality (Nickerson method) although appreciation is still one of the biggest profits in real estate. Robert Allen explains that a house bought in 1980 for $62,000 is now worth over $155,000.

You would think that everybody would be in real estate. Why not?

Allen uses a gross equity chart to show how much you can make in real estate. He also uses a net equity chart to show how much real estate you have to buy now to reach a certain goal, say $1 million net worth by a certain time. I was surprised that it didn't take as much or as long as I thought.

Allen also cautions against going wild buying too many properties or buying the wrong properties. If real estate is so great, why not just buy everything you can with nothing down right? Wrong.

Allen explains that no matter how careful you are, their will be vacancies and some things will go wrong. For example the recent hurricanes in Florida. Allen offers strategies to prepare for those events and to prevent you from going hogwild in b uying too many properties too soon. You could easily become real estate rich but cash poor. You could have a net worth of a million dollars with not enough money to buy lunch.

Allen also devotes a whole chapter on what to do when you become the don't wanter. If the truth be known, if all you had to do was load up on real estate and you become a millionaire, then surely everyone would be doing it and becoming rich.

Allen also teaches how to buy low and sell high and how to buy high and sell higher. He ven offers strategies on how to buy and sell at the same price and still make money.

Some people are confusing this book with the original Nothing Down which was excellent for the times. Nothing Down for the 2000's is updated for the new millenium with new strategies for the times.

If you are contemplating investing in real estate, then you can't go wrong by buying and applying the techniqes in this book by Robert Allen.

And disregard reviews by people who obviously have not even read the book. If you are like me, take some time to review it in Joe Muggs Cafe (Books-A-Million) or Barnes & Noble or Borders before you buy it.

If you are brand new to real estate investing, then I highly recommend Robert Allen's classic Nothing Down, now revised in a new edition. However, if you have read some of the other no money down R.E. books or other R.E. books on the market, you can probably skip this one.

Robert Allen's Nothing Down techniques have not changed that much since the first edition came out in 1980. The nothing down strategies are about the same that have been pushed by everybody from Dave Deldotto, Wade Cook, Charles Givens, Charleton Sheets, Al Lowry, Russ Whitney and so on.

An important point: Robert Allen was the first!

Allen was the first. Do they work? Absolutely! I bought several rental properties using Nothing Down techniques. So if you are brand new to R.E. Investing, read and use Allens techniques.

And please disregard the ngative reviews. Allen like other successful businessmen and in demand, best selling authors, gets bashed usually by the jealous and the broke who have nothing more to do with their time. By the way, I'm in network marketing so you can say I am used to the the bullcrap, misconceptions, bashing and outright lies about anything that works and anybody that is successful.

Interesting how people will applaud with someone wins the lottery but look with ambivelence upon anyone with self earned wealth.

Disregard the 1 star reviewers. To use a quote that Robert Allen frequently uses; "they just don't know any better."

Nothing Down is a good book, but you will need more. I highly recommend the Rich Dad advisors books by Dolf de Roos and Ken McElroy.

There are so many books on real estate investing. This one by Robert Allen is the most complete that I have seen.

It was great seeing Allen going beyond the basic setting goals that everybody has read a million times. Allen teaches us how to find our purpose and create compelling goals. How to create a vision. I have to admit it all sounded like a pseudo science untill I sat down and tried it.

Allen explains that you can buy real estate with Nothing Down and no credit. But he also shows how to build credit and break the stigma of bad credit.

In the foreward, Allen tells us how he almost died in a car crash near San Diego in 2003. He goes on to say this made him realize just how short life really is and goes on to explain why it is imperative to begin your real estate investing plan as soon as possible

Allen then teaches the mathematics of real estate and explains the various profit centers from real estate. I have to admit that I didn't realize how diverse real estate is.

Then Allen goes into his Nothing Down techniques like the second mortgage crank and more. I always wondered how you could buy real estate with nothing down. I just never realized that it didn't mean no money was used, it just didn't have to be my money. That got me excited!

Allen then goes into a 5 year retirement plan and a creative self employment plan. Allen hits the nail on the head when he talks about 45 minute commutes to work and so on and then asks "Aren't you sick of it?" I have to admit that I am.

Nothing Down is a great real estate investment book, in fact, the best that I have seen. I am now using these techniques to create my own real estate portfolio and enter the world of self employment via real estate investing. No better time than right now.

Yes, yes, there are some good concepts in this book, but overall it is very fluffy and most of the ideas are VERY poorly explained. The charts are pure rubbish and only work to confuse the reader. Also, most of the ideas will rarely ever work, which means you have to work and work at it over and over to get someone who will agree to your terms.

Essentially, the book contains alot of great pipedream ideas that may work someday for someone with enough effort.

Don't waste your time with this book if you know anything about real estate. You may want to buy it if you are a beginner.