Customer Reviews

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

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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).

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.

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.

I loved Fixer Jay's original book, Investing In Fixer Uppers, so I was thrilled to buy his second book as soon as I heard about it. It is an ok book, but it is his original book in a new cover. Even some of the sentences are the same. It was kind of like listening to a friend who tells you the same stories without remembering that he has told you already, using the same words, gestures and inflection. I was dissapointed that there is actually no explanation for creating a 2-year plan anywhere in the book. The closest thing that I could find to a 2-year plan, was a sentence on page 8 that said, "Two years after you acquire your first property, you should have a dependable income, assuming that you're following my strategies." Then comes an analogy that investing in real estate is like kissing frogs to find a prince. I suppose that it is, but it didn't help me with a 2-year plan. If you are interested in fixing up houses to rent for income, don't hesitate to buy Jay's first book-I have read it 5 times, and am using his strategies from that book right now, having just fixed up an older house in my neighborhood. With 3 month's part time work, I now have 28k in equity, and 209.00 per month positive cashflow, on my first fix-up ever, thanks to his first book. The house was even owner financed, 2% down, and deferred payments too! (Jay's strategies) Don't bother with the 2-year plan book though, because it isn't anything new.

I think this is one of the best books on this subject. I've read many books on real estate and investing in general, this is one of the few that talks about real estate as a business. The author says that the biggest mistakes that inexperienced investors make is to treat this business like a hobby. One small rental house is a business just as 100 rental houses are. I cannot agree with the author any more. When you own a property, you are selling something that is called rental space. That's your revenue, and you also incur expenses. If you do it right, you will have something left, which can be called cash flow, earnings, or whatever you wish to name it.

The strategy behind this book is to purchase rundown properties in decent neighborhoods, fix them up, and rent them out. The author believes that profits in these types of properties are the highest because most investors are not able to look beyond ugly looking houses. They have no imagination of what they can look like when cleaned up. Since there are few buyers, the chances of getting good deals are high. But the author warns you that you must always buy from motivated sellers. If you want the property more than the seller wants to sell it, this is a red flag.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

I would have like to know before I purchase the book: A little about the
author's Real Estate experience back ground. A preview or summary of the book.

Author's basic premise makes sense-- there is money to be made buying fixer upper single-family houses that are rehabbed and rented for investment income. Author suggests focusing on houses that require cosmetic repairs and/or sweat-equity repairs that offer cost savings via investor completed repairs versus hiring and paying a professional.

Book's shortcomings include ad nausea repetition, a lack of practical how-to advice and too many references to investment returns based on gross income versus net income or before tax cash flow (i.e., A $100,000 house that rents for $1,000 per month does not produce a 12% return unless the tenant covers all operating expenses, capital improvements and there is no debt service. John Schaub's single-family house investment books offer a more detailed road map.

This book has the strong qualities of Jay's first book - written in a easy-going, lay-back style that makes it enjoyable to read, and it presents an eminently useful model that really works.

Jay says to avoid slick and flashy techniques because "slick is another word for slippery." He points out the gurus who formerly expounded on a wide assortment of get-rich techniques are "either bankrupt or working in gas stations." Jay advises to stick with run-down, fixer-upper types of properties. Buy low, and improve their value, and rent them out. I's a winning formula that I, and many others, have used to make money in real estate.

I particularly liked Jay's technique of taking a low key negotiation approach, like the former TV-detective Columbo when he interrogated suspects. Instead of putting the seller on the defensive, don't directly tell them what's wrong with their house. No one wants a complete stranger to come up and criticize their house. Always show respect to the seller, and have the seller tell you what's wrong with the house by asking him a series of polite questions. Listen carefully to what the seller has to say. You can learn a lot by listening. Don't be critical, never talk down to anyone. Even sellers who must sell, won't sell to you if you try to intimidate them. Jay points out that you still must diligently verify any information you get from the seller. One way to do that is to ask for their "Schedule E" tax form.

Another key to Jay's formula is turning motivated sellers into bankers. This is something that a lot of us, myself included, need to work on. If we follow Jay's advice and get the seller to finance at least part of the loan, the purchase process suddenly becomes much easier.

I also liked Jay's memo system of dealing with renter problems. In using this system, I find it simplifies my dealings with renters. If you call and tell them to do something, they forget. If they see it in writing, in an official-looking memo, they will usually, but not always, do what you ask them to do. It reduces direct contact with them and it gives you written documentation in case you later need it later to remove them from the house. I like Jay's comment "tenants don't intimidate me because they are simply no match for my landlording skills." A bold attitude that we should all aspire for.

Overall, there is a lot to like about this book. If offers sound advice for the new, and the seasoned, investor. The Columbo negotiating technique alone was worth the price of the book for me.


Terry Sprouse is author of the book: "Fix 'em Up, Rent 'em Out: How to Start Your Own House Fix-up and Rental Business in Your Spare Time."

There is some good, useful information in this book. But personally I found it hard to get past the country boy, hick lingo that he uses so much. For example, "Never Try to Milk a Steer". There are so many metaphors like this, I couldn't get through the whole book because I was laughing instead of absorbing the information. Most of the information is good, but if the book was more well written it would be alot better. I stopped reading this book and moved on to another one that I purchased at the same time, Millionaire Real Estate Mentor, I think its written by Russ Whitney or Ross Whitney, something like that. That one is awesome so far and I would recommend it above this book any day.

This is a good beginners book to start buying, fixing and profiting from your real estate fix-up labor. The author describes very well how to find and profit from various types of properties: condos, town houses, single family, etc. The area that I thought was most interesting was the research to search and find apartments, the advise was more practical then other books. The more boring portion were the financials as I did not think anything was innovative in his approach: Buy low, fix then rent for cash flow and/or sell to profit. The author should have elaborated more on the mortgage and financing portion of real estate. If readers follow as described and if you can find the properties the 2-year plan should work.
Enjoy the read and good luck!