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 In 2024, however, it is painfully outdated.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.

Solid audiobook. Listen, Learn and Grow.

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.

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.

Good book on investing in real estate

Written before the most recent real estate crash, and did not age well because of that, but still has some good info and philosophy.

This books picks up from and reiterates his original book, Automatic Millionaire.

Put simply, the plan is to save for down payment with direct deposit to checking and automatic fund transfers to savings account. Be cognizant of the latte factor as you go along. Then you purchase the property, utilize equity to move to another primary residence and build equity in the second house while renting out the first one. Repeat this as many times as necessary and over a long period of time, your net-worth will be 8 figures or so.

Notes/Highlight:

Between March 2000 and the summer of 2002, the U.S. stock market imploded with losses totaling a whopping $6.9 trillion. So many Americans started investing in real estate, mainly homes (p.2). In 2005, it was reported by the Federal Reserve that Americans had much of their wealth tied up in their homes; about $10 trillion in equity (p.3).
"Don't worry about timing the market in real estate. It's time in the market that will matter for you (p.5).

You can save money by paying off your mortgage early using a "biweekly mortgage payment plan" (p.29.

In 1997, Congress changed the home-ownership tax laws. "Now, every time you sell your house,the first $250,000 in profits are tax free--the first $500,000, if you're a married couple." (p.32) ; "you can do this as often as once every two years." (p.213)

The 1031 Tax exchange is also known as the Starker Exchange "in honor of the real estate investor T.J. Starker, whose challenge to the IRS led to the rule." (p.56)

Before shopping for a home, you should shop for your mortgage. "You need to find the money first!" You're not going to get very far in the marketplace if the bank isn't willing to lend you that money (p.85). "It's not enough to be able to afford your home, you ultimately have to be able to afford your mortgage!" (p.86).

When you work with a mortgage banker, you are working with a direct lender (p.88). A mortgage broker, by contrast, doesn't work for a single bank. They are typically independent consultants, thought the may work for a large national company. The broker can shop your loan to various lenders; she doesn't represent one lender (p.89). Both mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers are usually paid a commission on the loans they close. "As a rule, it's you, the borrower [who pays the commission]-- thought you may not always realize it, since the cost of the commission is generally amortized in the cost of the loan." (p.90)
"If you already bank with a national bank (or even a local one), go into the bank and ask to meet with a loan specialist. Ask them if based on your existing 'banking relationship' with them, you qualify for any preferred rates" (p.92).
Amortization schedule=payment timetable= shows your monthly payments that will be applied against your debt (p.103).

The risk in no down payment mortgages is "if real estate values drop and you have no equity in your house, you can find yourself owing more than your place is worth! Should you be forced to sell your home under these circumstances [because, for example, you lost your job and couldn't keep up with the payments], you wouldn't be able to get enough from the sale to cover what you owe the bank (p.113)

Application Fees: To protect against the potential waste of their time, many lenders charge would-be borrowers an "application fee that ranges from $50 (the price of pulling your credit score) to $395. If the mortgage does cost, many will agree to waive the fee (p.138).
Appraisal Fees- if they are on the high side, ask why. Most lenders will offer you at least 3 different appraisers to choose from (p.139).

Pre-qualify-quick, informal review of your financial situation; is not binding (p.141)
Pre-Approved- serious and time consuming formal review of your financial situation (p.142).

In order to make the process of purchasing a home easier, many major home builders will help you with the financing (p.157).

"It's usually a lot easier to rent a new home than a old one. What's more, you're bound to experience far fewer maintenance hassles (p.160).

When you are getting pre-approved, negotiate your closing costs. By law, within three days after you have applied for a mortgage, a lender must provide you with a "good faith estimate" of what your closing costs are likely to be. Ask if the lender will guarantee a specific closing cost price. (p.172)

You are entitled to get a "HUD-1", an official, itemized statement listing all the costs of your mortgage (including closing costs, interest charges, property taxes, monthly payments, etc) , a full 24 before closing (p.173). Be sure to ask for it (p.174).

Your real estate agent can help you "Stage" a home that you're getting ready to sell (p.181).

Biweekly Mortgage Payment Plan-"All you do is take the normal 30 year mortgage you have and instead of making the monthly payments the way you normally do, you split it down the middle and pay half every two weeks." (p.192). The math works out so that you end up making less payments throughout the loan because"you gradually get further and further ahead in your payments, until by the end of the year you have paid the equivalent of not 12 but 13 monthly payments." (p.193) "To enroll all you need to do is phone your lender or go online to its web site. Many of the banks offer this service for free to customers who do all their banking with them." Banks without the service allow it through a 3rd party who will charge you, however (p.194)
Instead of the biweekly plan, you could simply "add 10% to your regular mortgage check each month and have the money applied toward the principal. Or you could make one extra payment at the end of the year and again have it go toward the principal (p.197).

Home equity loan-bank agrees to lend you the cash value of your equity. The interest is tax-deductible and is usually a lot easier to get than a mortgage (p.208). You can use a home-equity loan for any reason (college, starting a business, travel,etc.) (p.209)

"Even if you're confident a property will fetch a high enough rent to cover the costs, you still shouldn't buy it if you don't have at least three months' worth of mortgage payments in the bank." (p.228)

I love the book; loads of motivational information. I cannot fathom that his numbers are accurate in terms of homes appreciating in value at the rates he uses as examples in the time frames he suggests. I live in Tennessee and I know of no one who attained these types of equities. The principles though of homeownership are great advice. The way he describes to build your real estate portfolio is in line with other books I have read, but his numbers seem inflated. As I continue to study investing I will continue to read his books. I also want to point out this book was written prior to 2008, so we have had a downturn in the market, but he predicts in this book that the market was cooling "as of this writing in 2005" so he definitely knows the game. He does not get very techical with how-to's in this book. He basically refers you to a realtor and to do your own homework by going to open houses. Definitely worth the read in my mind but this book is one piece of a much bigger puzzle

I remember reading this book when it was new, around 2006 or so, and the advice not to buy condominiums as investment properties has stuck with me ever since. This book says condos have too many rules and regulations which will drive you nuts and waste your time, such as demanding doors and shutters be repainted a certain color by a certain date etc.

#cheesyselfhelpbook
This book was written at the height of the real estate market and has some questionable and bad 'advice' in it. Several times in every chapter the author wants you to go to his website for 'more information'

The title may be a bit sensational, but the advice seems relatively sober. This book talks about how one can use smart real estate purchases to become wealthy. Considering how our only real estate purchase to date has been a good investment for us, I can see how Bach's advice could work well.

The book was published in 2006, so I had my doubts going in, but Bach warns against housing bubbles and risky buying practices. He offers sane advice for long term investment properties (rather than flips). I would like to purchase a first investment property within the next year if possible.

I learned a lot by reading this and recommend it to others looking to buy homes in the near future (whether they are first-time homebuyers or not).

Wow. This book was written at the height of the housing bubble. As such, many of its assertions are downright laughable. For example, the author claims anyone can (and should) get a home loan, even if you have bad credit and no money for a down payment.

Also, the author reasons that the average income of homeowners is greater than that of renters; therefore, if you want a higher income, buy a home. Are you kidding me!?! Correlation is not causation.

Certainly there were a few good principles in this book (which are outlined in it's parent the Automatic Millionaire), but many of the assertions and assumptions were so ridiculous, I must recommend not reading this book. Disclosure: I must admit I did not completely finish the book; it was just too painful.