Customer Reviews

Unlimited Riches: Making Your Fortune in Real Estate Investing

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am a fan of Robert Shemin, and I found his other books, "Secrets of a Millionaire Real Estate Investor" and Secrets of a Millionaire Landlord" very informative. This book falls short in many cases.

This book, for the most part, rehashes his Real Estate Investor book. I kept waiting to get to the meat of the subject. It does have some new material, 25 Costliest Mistakes (which was on his web site I believe) and some new contracts.

The instructions for various schemes are lacking. Here is how to flip a property:
(1) Find a property 20% to 40% below market value (Yea right)
(2) Convince the seller to accept weird terms (An even bigger Yea right)
(3) Find someone to purchase it for 10% to 20% below market value (This is an actual possibility, but why didn't they purchase it at the original offering?)
(4) Find a Realtor to who will write the contract (NOT ON YOUR LIFE)

Is it possible to flip properties? Yes. Is it an everyday event? Hardly. Can you make money doing it? Yes. Can you loose your shirt doing it? An even bigger YES!

While leveraging (speculating) a property can make money, the risks are mostly to the down side. Some say the sky is the limit, but there is a price after which no one, nowhere, no how will ever buy the property. There is a price at which anyone will buy it, but that is usually below what you paid.

A companion book that Amazon offered when I purchased Shemin's book was, Investing in Real Estate by Andrew McLean and Gary Eldred. This book is the meat and potatoes of investing in real estate. It shows you the numbers, gives you straight advise, cites the pluses and minuses of investing, but it will never be a big seller because it doesn't promise you will get rich quickly.

My advise; purchase Shemin's Secrets books and McLean/Eldred's book.

Final advise, don't try and use any of the contracts in these books without checking the laws in your state. Many states have adopted the "Uniform Landlord Tenants Act" as modified by their particular state. Shemin's rental/lease contract would have gotten tossed out on its ear in Kansas. I suspect it would have been tossed in some other states too.

This is the fourth book I've read in the past couple of weeks that tells me to just go out and buy properties for 30% off, get the seller to finance it for nothing down, and then flip it for a great profit. What world are these authors living in? More to the point--how can so many gullible readers buy this stuff? Even worse, Shemin spends a chapter trying to sell you a prepaid legal service with which he's involved.I agree with Kansas City. For meat and potatoes and techniques that make sense see M&E's Investing In Real Estate. Shemin has destroyed his credibility with me with this entry into the Carleton Sheets school of nonsense. I expected better.

I read some good reviews of this book, but after reading the book they made me feel like they were written by the author or by some of his friends. Like most books that promise the world, the content under delivers. The book had some great points in it, but it left out some key pieces of information, like how much money you need to get started and what makes a good market from a bad one. He had some great suggestions on what you need to do in order to be a great landlord, but at times I felt like the book was an advertisement for his web site and the services he provides there (for a fee, of course). The book could have been half as long and provided the same information. Writing in the first person, telling his own version of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" kept the pace fast, but at times was annoying. If you are considering seriously to get into real estate investing, this isn't a bad book to have, but you shouldn't make it your only one.

The author structures most chapters around vague generalities. Each chapter contains several pitches to get readers to subscribe to the authors pay site for the "real" information. Secondly the author repeats himself so many times if you cut the book in half and gave each half to a friend neither friend would miss anything.
The book is clearly a get rich scheme for the author akin to stuffing envelopes. The two stars it does get are for being semi motivational even though it lacks content.

Like many other best sellers, this book contains hopes and dreams, but few practical advises. If you are looking for a real estate investing book with real substance, read "Investing in Real Estate" by McLean and Eldred.

If you've never read a book on real estate investing, I would recommend a more seriously written book on the subject, not this get rich quick book. I have read Robert Shemin's earlier books and this is a rehash of them. Try "investing in real estate" or "the unofficial guide to real estate investing". These two books are very well written and don't make real estate investing sound like a late night infomercial, as, unfortunately Robert Shemin's books do.

I have a few other real estate books and read a great review of this in the LA Times, (thinking they have been right before). This book does have a few good ideas and resent them well. The one thing I thought Robert would cover is HOW he secures some of his financing and different financing options. It felt a bit self-serving when he devoted too much space to the legal service he uses and now represents. I may look at his earlier works before I buy again. I would really love to hear from others on definitive real estate investing books.

A solid beginners tome. Gives good advice on how to drum up business. I always say if you can get a couple of good ideas form a book that help you make some money, you've got your money's worth. One thing I really like are the true story tidbits inserted every so often. I really liked the idea on p. 94 and have begun to use this one myself.

One of the weaknesses of a beginners book like this is that all too often they dont explain the numbers. Real estate is all about the numbers. No formulas to help you determine if a certain deal is actually good or not.

I finished this book in a single sitting and filled the book with notes in margins, underlines and highlights along the way. I've read lots of real estate books and taken lots of "Real Estate Riches" courses, but none of them have given me the clear cut, no-nonsense direction a typical person needs to really make it as a Real Estate Investor. I love it!

The book is based on the assumption that you can find someone dumb enough to sell you real estate for a 20% to 50% discount. 99.9999% of sellers and their advisors aren't that stupid. If you are that good of a negotiator, you probable already have unlimited riches. The book is a re-hash of the same get rich quick/no money down stuff that has been sold in infomercials and seminars for the past 20 years.