I checked this out from the library in audiobook form. I was intending to check out "The Automatic Millionaire," which I'd heard recommended by people who were into "personal finance." I realized pretty quickly that I had a different book but I decided to start listen anyway and it kind of sucked me in. The voice actor who read this book had a very infomercial-sounding voice. Very pleasing and motivational. There was something deeply enjoyable about driving around listening to him tell me that everything would be okay, and in fact, I was destined for riches if I did just a few simple and easy things. Never mind that this was written before the mortgage crisis and great recession and that, if this book can be trusted as an accurate guide to the world at any time, we live in a different world now. While I listened, I noticed my own desire to be soothed, and became aware of a quality in this account that was soothing. Some other specimens from the self-help genres offend me because they feel predatory, but the "automatic millionaire" of this book seemed too fantastical to be exploitative -- truly a remnant of another era. Meanwhile, I learned some mortgage- and homeownership-related vocabulary, which I'm glad I have now.

Read this book and then watch the Big Short. You will laugh and laugh. This is a recipe for the housing market collapse!

I love the automatic millionaire book. But this is definitely specific to a few big cities like he states buying a $200k house and 5 years later it’s worth $600k. Um not in our world even in a big populated city. Still a good investment a few good pointers but expected return will not be like it was in 2005 in Francisco.

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!

Nice but nothing special

The first third of “The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner,” I was annoyed with David Bach. He talks about “getting rich” so many times that it started to feel like a scammy infomercial. In addition, Bach encourages his readers that a chapter will take less than 20 minutes to read and that the whole book only takes a few hours to read; however, despite all his talking and cajoling, I wasn’t reading any substance or value in Bach’s words.

If you can make it though this first third, the majority of the book is solid with actionable insights and many “I have to write this down moments.” From down payment sources and all things mortgage (finding a mortgage broker, negotiating a mortgage, automating mortgage payments) to finding a realtor and becoming a landlord yourself, there are insights and strategies for most people.

Since the book was published in 2006, some of the advice is outdated, including web addresses of sub-prime lenders that have since gone out of business!

The “get rich” mantra and focus on wealth can turn some readers away—I was rather turned off at the beginning. Moreover, the final chapter on how to help others through charities and organizations like Habitat for Humanity felt tacked on at the end to ward off critics of his “get rich” mentality.

Still, Bach’s book taught me more than a few things about home buying and I’d recommend it to those who can look past the millionaire mentality.

Simple and clear explanation on real estate investments

Updating my rating be because while I usually negotiate everything in life already, knowing EXACTLY which levers to pull on the closing doc saved me $1,000 today (processing fee, credit report fee, appraisal fee varies by company). That itself is worth 5* from me :)

Very basic. 101 level stuff. Written for renters who don't know about credit scores. Nobody is getting rich from this book, despite the sub-title "A powerful plan to finish rich in real estate".

The book is very helpful if you want to learn the basics of the home-buying process. Information is presented sequentially and thoroughly. I thought the information was worth noting so I listed what I thought were the important points as I listened to the audio book. If you're interested in first-time home-buyer information, you could skip disc 1 altogether and skip over a few parts of disc 2 (the audio book consists of four discs).

I borrowed the CD's from a coworker who owns multiple properties and rents them. The book promotes moving from renting a place to owning your own home to then owning other homes to rent out. Put another way, the book promotes investing in real estate as being the best way to begin building wealth.

This book was written in 2005 and it was very interesting to hear the author talk about banks lending to sub-prime borrowers as being advantageous for them - borrowers with poor credit could get loans and buy homes, with the goal of getting out of debt and making a lot of money (hence the titles).

The book was read by Oliver Wyman. I wouldn't recommend listening to his voice for too long, at least if you're a guy.

Similar ideas to Bach's The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich only with specific application to owning a home (mortgages, etc.).

Meh. Lots of stuff we already know, written pre-2008. Talks about using equity to purchase real estate.