Building Wealth: From Rags to Riches With Real Estate (Paperback)

by Russ Whitney (Author) "When I was 20, I got the best job I thought I'd ever have: I was making $5 an hour killing hogs..." (more)
Key Phrases: redecorating allowance, committing questions, passbook loan, New York, United States, Cape Coral (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Although less well known than such other get-rich real estate gurus as Wayne Phillips ("government loans") or Robert Allen ("nothing down"), Whitney preaches a similar message: You can get rich in real estate by borrowing your way to wealth with government loans, seller financing, discount mortgages, and other such tactics. He also includes a heavy dose of Horatio Alger up-by-the-bootstraps positivism. Patrons will ask for this book. David Rouse --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Jimmy Calano CEO, CareerTrack Russ Whitney is wealthy now, but he started with a lot less than the average person reading this book. He can -- and will -- show you how to create a fortune out of virtually nothing. In this fast-reading, easy-to-understand book, you'll learn a wealth-building system that you can start using tomorrow. -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684800519
• ISBN-13: 978-0684800516
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #645,498 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspirational Starting Point!, August 23, 1999

By A Customer

Sure, Russ Whitney may well be an expensive fraud to meet in person - as a number of emails I have read suggest, but you cannot allow this to detract from the impact that believing in this book may have on your life.

All Russ provides in this book is the starting framework, the ideas, and most importantly the real life examples and experiences for your reference. All of the ideas in his book can be found in any number of other texts and that is just the beauty of it all!! - Whitney is trying (successfully) to open the readers mind up to the fact that you don't require new secrets to build wealth. All you need is a burning desire, a framework, and most of all FAITH in your ability to get off your butt and take action to succeed!!

I am from New Zealand and my wife and I have gone from being hugely in debt to owning 3 units in 15 months, with more on the way. Hardly any of Whitney's techniques work in our market, however, he, and all of the books that I have read since, extoll the power of flexibility and thats what we have done - with what I think has been great success.

Read this book have faith and TAKE ACTION! PS Russ - clean up your act on the seminar scams!!

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 27 Year Old Literally Bankrupt Girl Buys 10 Properties, June 5, 2001

By	Amy Kenney (Salt Lake City, USA) - See all my reviews

Russ Whitney's book was just the information I needed to begin my ascension from bankruptcy to financial independence. I saw an ad in the newspaper for an investment seminar he was sponsoring. While there was no way I could afford to attend it, the book was the perfect solution. I bought it. I was completely riveted, motivated and inspired. I couldn't help but take action on the concepts he detailed. Within one month of reading the book, I bought my first investment property. Within 10 months I had nine more. I, of course, had no money and bad credit at the time and was able to overcome it all with the information he provided. His style is relaxed and easy to read. He takes a complicated financial subject and makes it possible for the layman to assimilate and put into practice. He made me feel that if he could achieve wealth rising from a $5 an hour job as a hog slaughterer that anyone could. I believed him and it sure paid off. I'm now working on a success story of my own! I highly recommend this book as a must for any would be investor. Even now as an accomplished and experienced investor, rereading the book still provides me with new insights and I now see different levels of techniques to try. If you are not inspired and educated by this book, you may be completely without passion! Get the book, you'll be glad you did!

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthusiastic; good advice; just keep learning though, March 23, 2001

By	MISTER SJEM "sonofhotpie" (CALIF BAY AREA United States) - See all my reviews

First off, I don't think one basic book is going to prepare you for a serious real estate deal. So far, I've read about fifteen, listend to over two dozen tapes and spoken with a few people who are seriously doing it. Also, one of my friends swears by Russ Whitney and did his seminar and had a good experience with it.

But, if you're going to start with a basic book to about real estate investing, this is a great one. I don't believe in some authors who want to be negative and tell you about all the bad things or tell you that you can't do it.

According to a book I read about discount mortgages, something like 7 out of 10 people in the late 80s were millionaires from real estate. Granted, that may be lower with all the tech companies that turned some people into millionaires but I bet it's something like 6 out of 10 or 5 out of 10 still putting r/e into a majority.

Conversely, the David study on day traders said something like 1 out of 64 traders make a profit.

In other words, r/e is set up to help you win more than the stock market. The govt helps you by giving you tax breaks; banks are willing to loan you a good chunk of your money; as long as you have positive cashflow and r/e smarts, it can be profitable.

A good book to start out with before this is Robert Kiyosaki's RICH DAD, POOR DAD. If you like that, continue with the rest. Then, come back to this book if you know r/e is your financial vehicle.

Strongly recommend otherwise.