World's Greatest Wealth Builder (Paperback)

~ Carleton Sheets (Author) "Sometimes, "glamorizing" tends to creep in when an author writes about himself..." (more)
Key Phrases: buying techniques, instant equity, profit machine, The World's Greatest Wealth Builder, Over the Phone, Create Wealth Out of Thin Air (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sheets' publicist claims that How to Buy Your First Home or Investment Property with No Down Payment, Sheets' television "program" of 15 years, is the longest-running infomercial in the history of American television--a distinction that may be seen as dubious to some. This book will be a lure for those who have yet to shell out $149 to buy Sheets' home-study course or to attend one of his pricey seminars, but there is little more here than they would get from staying up late to catch Sheets on cable television. Here is the self-congratulatory autobiographical sketch, the giddy promotion, the countless testimonials, the bold promise of "creat[ing] wealth out of thin air," and the inevitable pitch for the "advanced" course and the seminar. To be sure, Sheets tantalizes would-be real estate tycoons with advice on buying property, making offers, and property management. He explains the concept of "positive cash flow," collecting rents on property for which no down payment was made; but alas, this is much easier said than done. Regardless, expect demand. David Rouse

Product Details

• Paperback: 313 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books (October 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566251117
• ISBN-13: 978-1566251112
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #964,036 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

139 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SUPER LIGHT WEIGHT Informercial for expensive courses!, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This book is the "World's Greatest wealth Builder" for the author not the readers. Carleton Sheets is a super salesman, however his books is light weight fluff, that is a pure infomercial for his more expensive courses. Many times throughtout the book the author tells you that he has courses available to tell you the rest of the details. The entire book is an introduction to courses costing 10 times the price of the book. The book is pure and simply a commercial for the more expensive course. That being the case the book should have been free. There is very little of his background, or his purchases; making you wonder what is missing or hidden. Mr. Sheets reportedly did work for the discredited and bankrupt author, seminar-seller, Robert Allen as a huckster 15 to 20 years ago. He is refined, polished and slick but the subject matter is light, cosmetic and written in the most general terms. I read the whole book waiting for the substantive portion of the book to start,it never happened. With the thousands of books available on Real Estate investing, this book would be at the bottom of my list and would not be recommended. I have read probably 100 books on Real Estate and have purchased over 200 properties. From my my experience some of the techniques in the book do work, while other are not very effective. I would highly recommend William Nickerson's book "How I turned $1,000 into One Million in my Spare Time." Leigh Robinson's "Landlording" book is excellent and I would recommend to anyone currently think of being a rental property owner. Any of Peter Miller's books are also not to be missed. Robert Irwin's countless books are good reading at the introductory level. Kenneth Harney and Robert Bruss are also knowledgable Real Estate writers. Save your money do NOT buy Carleton Sheet's book, there are other much better choices available.

62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Save your money!, April 18, 2000

By	Eric Joyce (Portage, IN) - See all my reviews

To put it concisely, this book is not worth the money. Ihaveread Carleton's books and I even bought his course and found hisinformation to be vague, outdated, and risky. The fact of the matteris, and this is a realistic thought, that you are not going to be a millionare overnight nor are going to by the "ideal" property for no money down. You have a better chance winning the lottery or being struck by lightening. Now, I am not saying that these deals don't exist. What I am saying is that they are few and far between. The reality is that banks will only lend you money based upon what you are able to pay. Seller financing? Well, look at it this way...the more money a person is willing to finance, the more problems there are with the home. This is not always true, but 9 times out of 10 it is. Using your credit cards as down payments? Ask yourself this question...how would you like to pay $1500, $2000, or $3000 at a 17.9% to 20% interest rate when you are only making $100 a month on a single family house? Do the math and you'll see what I mean. As you read Carleton's book or buy his home study course (which is just a expanded version of his book)he does an excellent job of promoting his product by explaining things in such simplistic terms. To the first time investor, the reaction is "wow, it's just that simple". Whereas to the experienced investor, the reaction may be "Well, that's correct but the reality is this." After all is said and done, what you end up purchasing is an expensive infomercial. If you happen to watch his infomercial, not only are his techniques outdated, but so are the people he uses in his commercials. They are still wearing clothes from the 1980's which leads me to believe that these people are truly a.) have no money or credit to by decent clothes and should think twice about buying a real esate course or b.) these commercials are incredibly old and outdated. When you read this, please understand that I am not slamming real estate investing. I enjoy real esate investing. What I don't like is when so called "real estate guru's" tell you you can, only if you buy the course. Carelton is making money alright, but I think the majority of the money is from selling his courses. In just a one day seminar with say 300 people and with his course at a price of $200, he will make $60,000. If you want to, take away advertising, overhead, etc., and he can still come away with $30,000 in a day. If he does one seminar a week at $30,000, he could make over a million easy($1,560,000 to be exact) Who needs to buy real estate when you can sell these courses? Buyer beware. END

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Basic, but good stuff that sounds good to me., July 10, 2004

By A Customer

Yes--this book is an overview of Carleton course but it also contains some good information and is very suitable for the newcomer to real estate. Carleton covers a lot of his famous "No Money Down" techniques and beats to deatht he success of his students. In that regard, it does resemble an advertisement, but if you have the testimonials, why not flaunt them?

This book will not be enough to get your started in real estate investing. His course is far more complete. This book will get your interest. The course will make you wealthy. Use this book as an intro to real estate investing.