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-Matt

Illustrator for the Ultimate Foreclosure Kit

(ISBN 0978834658)

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If you are already in real estate and know the basics, you may not need this book. If you already have your team of advisors and know who to go for when you have questions, you may not need this book. If you understand the differences between LLCs and LP and why one is better in California than in Nevada, you may not need this book.

For most beginning real estate investors, this book is just the right amount and just the right speed to get started. Garrett and Sharon don’t look at the buy-and-flip models, but rather at the advantages of staying in real estate, building a portfolio, and intelligently upgrading your properties (1031 Exchanges). They also go over the long-term planning aspects of inheritance and how to move your properties to family members with minimal taxes. They don’t profess a silver bullet, but rather a rational plan to financial success through real estate.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

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I have been through dozens of books, tapes, and CD programs on investing in real estate. Some are strictly motivational with little useful information. Others are like reference works and cannot be read from beginning to end. Still others hope to be meaningful forever and so dare not give you anything too current, or disputable and likely to change. Lechter and Sutton, however, wrote a book to turn a dreamer into a real estate investor. If that’s what you still want at the end – but you have all the info to make the decision. Other reviewers might say that there are no “secrets” in this book – true, I suppose – but if YOU don’t have a tutor for the subject, then for YOU common knowledge is a secret!

The authors give separate advice for dealing with primary residence and for investment properties. Most other books blur these separate cases. Special cases where individual state law might differ from the general situations are pointed out. Case studies and repetition are used throughout – much like Pimsleur uses conversation in each language lesson. The reader brings everything learned earlier to each case, but is stretched just a bit to see why each case is unique. Each chapter builds on prior chapters. Included is the required amount of math, but this is clearly not a math book. On the contrary, it is an enjoyable read cover-to-cover. Some of the material is current as of 2006 and this is clearly noted. I hope this book gets updated every few years.

While technically part of the Rich Dad series, the book stands on its own. The reader is fully aware of the few tacked-on references to the Rich Dad philosophy.

This book is a must-read for anyone thinking about a career in real estate investing in all its forms. Consider it the second book you read – after something like “Home Buying for Dummies.”