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69 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Oh, My!, June 27, 2006
This review is from: The Real Estate Fast Track: How to Create a $5,000 to $50,000 Per Month Real Estate Cash Flow (Creating Cash Flow Series) (Paperback)
This book functions primarily as a large advertisement for the author's seminars/classes. Most of what the book presents is naive, simplistic or just plain wrong. The financial side techniques presented include "tried and true" goodies that don't work now and didn't work when I first read them in a book my dad bought 40 years ago.
The negotiating tactics don't work. See Spin Selling for some of the best sales and negotiating material out there.
Of course, if you are able to deal only with people who are completely ignorant of the real estate values in their town and who distrust lawyers, i.e., don't have contracts reviewed in lieu of using a real estate broker, you may get some of these gems to work for you.
And what do I know? Not much -- but I have appeared in court as an expert appraisal witness, made a few million in real estate (& yes, I still read books. Who knows when I'll find a good idea?) and been a real estate broker for 30 years.
The author, if he ever made any money in real estate, is now, it would seem, making his money selling his seminars. Run, don't walk, away from the author and his materials.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best I have read so far, April 20, 2006
This review is from: The Real Estate Fast Track: How to Create a $5,000 to $50,000 Per Month Real Estate Cash Flow (Creating Cash Flow Series) (Paperback)
I really enjoyed and would recommend it to others wholeheartedly. There are of course the many plugs for David's mentoring programs and other products. I think grown-ups can figure out that you are reading a book that is part of a business system and get over being annoyed at the plugs. The other thing I didn't care for much were the ficticious personalities that are tracked as examples. I would have not had this reaction if it would have been clearly stated from the start that these folks were compilations of past students and not actual people.
With this whining out of the way, I can say this was the best R.E. investing book I have read so far, and I have read many. The systems that are laid out in David's earlier books are reviewed and compacted for easy check list style review. The new info on building systems of your own to streamline and idiot proof (no offense)your own investing is extremely valuable. I think that if more people who say they tried the R.E. thing and it didn't work for them (or even worse, tell of other's failures when they haven't tried themsleves) had developed systems like these, there would be many more success stories and fewer naysayers.
The other thing I enjoyed and appreciated was the forethought given to eventually having your investments run independently of your continual input and baby sitting. This is a big challenge and this kind of info is hard to find. There is enough valuable info in just this one area to make this book pay for itself many times over.
Real Estate is a complex and sometines confusing business that can be overwhelming to people trying to make it a fit for thier lives and careers. David not only gives the helpful encouragment that other writers are big on, but he also lays out enough well crafted systems to let even the most easily intimidated reader see themselves succeedng in the biz. This is not just another 'vision casting' speech, but actual step-by-step plans to succeed with quantfiable and sustainable results.
The added online teaching once again eclipses the norm and adds serious value to the book. I am very much enjoying my added education online and even found great local connections through links I accessed though the website given in the book. I found free forms, written specifically for my state, that will probably save me hundreds of dollars through new connections with a local investors club I found via David's site.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for investor wisdom. It is well written and even more well thought out and covers ground that I haven't seen anyone cover yet. Thanks David.
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Many Powerful Concepts!, May 3, 2006
This review is from: The Real Estate Fast Track: How to Create a $5,000 to $50,000 Per Month Real Estate Cash Flow (Creating Cash Flow Series) (Paperback)
Having built a real estate holding company with $25,000,000 in commercial real estate holdings in less than 5 years myself, (along with my partner), I can tell you firsthand that Dave hits on some quintessential, need to know-very powerful concepts.
pg.42 Discipline, "...if you are willing to work to foster this quality, the world of investing is yours.'
pg. 44 Leveraging your time, money and knowledge
pg. 45 Work smart, not necessarily hard
pg. 47 "Information becomes power only at the point of application"
Jack Welch says he would rather have a leader that can execute than a rocket scientist. Execution is key!
Pg. 49 Constanally ask yourself, "What is the best and highest use of my time?" - The key here being opportunity cost.
On page 167 this book came alive for me; because it is something our company is struggling with right now. Dave describes "getting out of the small time bubble" which describes such a simple concept that is incredibly hard to execute. The idea is to free yourself up to concentrate on what will produce the best return for your time. This concept is also a big one in Jim Clayton's, "First a Dream" which I also reviewed here an on my blog
He talks you through the delicate steps involved in growing a business to the point where you can gradually remove yourself from the day to day procedures. A major function is the implementing of systems.
Another great insight is that Dave reads about 100 books a year. As Charlie Munger says, "Read all the time", "In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time-none, zero. You'd be amazed at how much Warren reads-and at how much I read. My children laugh at me, they think I'm a book with a couple of legs sticking out"
In fear of rambling, one more great concept is converting equity to cash flow. This is something our company (as well as anyone who purchased real estate over the last 5-10 years) is wrestling with or should be at the moment.
By Kevin Kingston, author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate
Blog: bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston
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