Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate: Fixer Jay's 2-Year Plan for Building Wealth - Starting from Scratch [Paperback]

Jay DeCima (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2004

From the BusinessWeek bestselling author of Investing in Fixer-Uppers--a plan for building a real estate empire with little or no money down "

Fixer Jay" DeCima, the acknowledged king of fixer-uppers, delivers a much-anticipated guide to realizing financial independence through real estate investing. Written in DeCima's trademark folksy style, Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate provides a complete two-year plan for making it big in real estate starting with little or no money of your own.

• You'll learn how to:
• Scout out properties with the highest return
• Calculate the payoff versus the effort involved in any real estate investment
• Find motivated sellers who will finance your properties
• Use leveraging and compounding to utmost advantage
• Negotiate with sellers and win every time
• Make big bucks with rental properties

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A 2-year program for finding ugly duckling houses--and turning them into beautiful, wealth-producing swans

In Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate, legendary real estate investor "Fixer Jay" DeCima opens his toolbox and shares his secrets to finding beauty--and big money---in rundown houses. He explains how to find "properties with all the right things wrong" and, using a little money and a lot of elbow grease, transform them into the type of clean, affordable homes that good renters desire in every market.

How did DeCima go from virtually zero money to nearly $100,000 a month in rental income in a few short years? Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate walks you through every step of the process, including:

• 4 sources of real estate profits--rents, amortization, tax benefits, and appreciation--and how to maximize each
• Types of houses that will consistently let you buy with the largest discount-to-value and most profitable terms
• Sample rental agreements, independent contractor's agreements, information resources, and more

Getting rich in real estate is easier than you think. It requires little more than knowledge and initiative. Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate will give you the knowledge you need to assemble a portfolio of top income-producing properties and a steady income for life--within just two years.

About the Author

Jay DeCima is the bestselling author of Investing in Fixer-Uppers and a veteran of more than 45 years of real estate investing. Over the past two decades, his home-study products and seminars have helped thousands of real estate investors launch their careers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071443800
• ISBN-13: 978-0071443807
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Becoming Wealthy the Old Fashioned Way : Working For It, April 5, 2005

By 

Hans (Mill Valley,CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate: Fixer Jay's 2-Year Plan for Building Wealth - Starting from Scratch (Paperback)

As one of a handful of real estate gurus recommended by John T Reed, Decima's books are very readable and accurate (with minor exceptions). What is refreshing is that he promotes the classic William Nickerson model...rather than the 'nothing down' nonsense (RichDad/Allen/etc.) or the speculation game (and interest only ARMs). Instead, buy a dumpy house (w/positive cashflow), put in the sweat equity, rent it out, repeat. It's hard work (and definately not sexy)...but the pay just can not be beat. Moreover, buying distressed homes under market protects your investment in the event of an economic downturn (if you bought at 30% discount and median home sales dip 10% - you can still sell at a profit)...and results in lower taxes (at least, in CA).

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Using the Fixer Upper Approach, March 14, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate: Fixer Jay's 2-Year Plan for Building Wealth - Starting from Scratch (Paperback)

There are a lot of books on how to make money in real estate. Most of them say that you want to stay away from fixer uppers. They say that the time you spend fixing is time that you could better spend buying or selling.

Jay DeCima takes another view. He says that he buys Ugly Ducklings and then fixes them up to make them desirable rentals. He says that most of the fixing up is low skilled labor that he can do himself cheaper than hiring it done. This would include things like clean up and painting. Other more specialized things like installing a new toilet may be something you don't know how to do. So hire a plumber, but watch what he does so you'll at least know how later. He does say, however, that he knows a lot of such investors who contract out the work.

So called sweat equity is certainly a good way to get started. When I was looking for my present house, I looked at a rental. Comparing I found that about five years of rent would be equal to the purchase price of a house.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good beginner's book., March 5, 2005

By 

David Ray Malone (Allen, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Start Small, Profit Big in Real Estate: Fixer Jay's 2-Year Plan for Building Wealth - Starting from Scratch (Paperback)

Jay writing style makes it very easy to follow the material and not get bored. I felt there is a lot of useful information in the book. I would caution the reader that when I compared this book with some of his others, it seemed like each book had a lot of the same material. I would recommend this one, but would not recommend buying all of his books.