Conceptos importantes

Didn't like it quite as much as automatic millionaire, but he's got plenty of good points and some worthwhile pieces of information inside.

I feel that it's a bit biased as it doesn't show any case studies of people who lost their homes. However it does have some statistics that say only 5% of home loans are foreclosed on.

I like how he points you to real world resources to help get you set up with a house.

Some mortgage options I've never heard of in here as well.

Also fun to see the case studies of real people who made money with their homes.

I am on a self-help frenzy, and this series of books have been thought provoking and inspirational if you are looking to improve your current financial situation. I would not say these are the end all be all in finance books, but definitely worth reading if financial planning is up your alley!

This is the better of Bach's two "automatic millionaire" books.

Nice but nothing special

Good to reference later.

My attention to detail skill was absent when I bought this audiobook on iTunes. I wanted The Automatic Millionaire, but bought the Real Estate version by accident. While I still want to go back and read that book, I cannot recommend this particular book.

Bach begins by stating the stock market cannot produce the returns of real estate. His disclaimer is the book is written in 2006, so some things may change when the reader goes through it. He mentions his methods are timeless because everyone needs a home.

He discusses building wealth through borrowing other people's money. While he spend 12 chapters talking about building a portfolio of real estate, he does not adequately discuss risks invovled. I give him credit for stating that "get-rich quick" does not work and that the reader should take tiime to build their real estate wealth. This is because the home is one of our most valuable investments. I just cannot begin to agree with his methods of using debt to build wealth.

If you read the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and you want to know what this book talks about, then here's what you will find. Take most of Dave's principles and do the opposite. If you go this route to build wealth, keep Dave Ramsey's phone number ready to call when the banks start calling in your notes. I'll take financial peace over wealth with debt any day.

Some good points, but very outdated and out of touch given the choices of examples and publishing in 2006.

Never has a book "dated" itself so blatantly as this one. It was eerie reading this author's opinions and recommendations for getting into real estate just 2 years before the real estate crash of 2008. I also doubt a lot of the advice would work in today's market, where first-time home buyers in the lower income brackets are staring at housing prices that have tripled or more in the last decade. And the "advice" to try for no-money-down or low-money-down mortgages just sounds super risky.

I did appreciate the messages about making the act of "saving" automatic, either by setting up automatic transfers with your bank, and also doing the same thing with bill paying. And there was some good time spent pointing out the importance to reduce as much consumer debt as possible before buying your first home.

So, if you have confidence in your ability to apply critical thinking to the materials you read, this couldn't hurt to read, but it is major danger-zone stuff if you tend to be heavily influenced by what you read.

It was an ok book but the chapter on mortgages felt like it went on forever. And, I doubt half those mortgages are even offered now that the economy tanked. There were good ideas in the book, but I was hoping for something more.

The first thing to know about this book is that it was written in 2005. I made the mistake of not checking the year before reading it. I'm sure the advice was helpful or even great in 2005. In 2024, however, it is painfully outdated.
First off, prospective homeowners are encouraged to take out loans with little to no down payment just because it's "cheaper than renting." Sometimes that's true, sometimes it's not. Fast forward to the mortgage crisis of 2008 and then inflation of housing prices in 2020s and it's debatable if it's actually the best plan of action. Also add in insurance that jumps every year, the idea of fixed housing costs is pretty much a myth.
Another thing that was promoted to help save on interest was to set up bi-monthly payments. Banks don't do this anymore, at least not the ones that I talked to. They will take your money bi-monthly, sure, but they don't apply it to your principal until the due date, so you aren't saving interest, you are just loaning them your money 15 days early.
I read this hoping to get information on buying additional properties, but the book made it seem like the best way of doing it was to pull equity out of your first house to buy a second house, then move into the second house and rent the first one out. So, if you don't want to move out of your first house, it's not really covered.
The advice I did take away was to set up automatic savings for financial goals, which is a good general concept. In all fairness, I didn't finish the book so perhaps there was more.

So this book is pretty much out of date. That said, there are some very basic good insights that he shares. Grab the good parts and let the old 2005 parts go away.