Investing in Duplexes Triplexes and Quads The Fastest and Safest Way to Real Estate Wealth
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Bad and dangerous information
his book is generally bad with a handful of useful information. There are MANY other books that you can read to get better information. Read my full, extensive review at [...]
4 Stars Market’s changed
The market has changed a bit for this cycle so some strategies would not work in NY, FL, CA, and other places where there’s an over saturation of available rental spaces.
Some in South Florida opt to get out of duplexes just so they can go for a cheaper house to rent. But in terms of understanding how to create a business for running duplexes and renting out, this book is a good starter, but just be realistic of where you are sticking your fortunes.
5 Stars Very informative.
Provided a lot of information on investing in multi-family properties. A lot of the information is provided through the authors personal experience in multi-family property investing.
4 Stars Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes & Quads
I have read many books, including five authored by Robert Kiyosaki, and his accountant. However, this book was must useful in illustrating how the process of acquiring your first property and continuing on until you have amassed a substantial real estate holding. As a young woman starting out in the business I wasn’t sure how to evaluate a property. I am still working on that, however, Loftis provided me with the initial tools to get me off and running, and I’ve been in the race ever since. To complement Loftis’ book I recommend that you also read Buy and Hold 7 Steps to Real Estate Fortune by David Schumacher. The truth of the matter is that no one book will provide individual with every detail you need to create a successful deal. Both Loftis and Schumacher explicitly state that you must study the growth potential of the area you intend to invest in. You must do this in order to build equity, which can be used as leverage to purchase your second property. Loftis does offer the blueprint that you can purchase a property every year and sell another through a 1031 exchange every two years. The idea is correct, even if the time doesn’t work for everyone. The idea is to purchase a property for very little money down, usually no more than 10%, and that this property produce positive cash flow, or at the very least doesn’t result in negative cash flow. Once you build equity, which can take more than a year, especially in these times, than you can use that equity as a downpayment to purchase a larger, more expensive property, and the cycle continues. I believe is outlook is optimistic as another reviewer pointed out, but isn’t that the point? Aren’t we trying to build wealth? We aren’t going to be inspired to do it, if we don’t try. I’ve read tons of books, and will continue to do so, I attend as many free mortgage and real estate financing seminars as possible, and I also read the paper and review the town websites of the areas I intend to invest in. Understand that Loftis and Schumacher both state that it can take an entire year to make one deal, but that deal will be a good one if you take the time to complete the due diligence. Investing in real estate is not as easy as investing in the stock market, where you review a company’s prospectus and balance sheet. You have to dig deeper than that. If you are truly interested in investing in real estate for the long haul, than read this book. If you are only entertaining the idea of investing in real estate, than read books by Trump. They are entertaining, but offer very little substance.
4 Stars written in better times
His premise for building wealth is a buy and hold process where he takes equity out to make subsequent purchases. This was easier a few years ago than it is today. However, to the author’s credit he discussed ways to build equity in flat markets (but probably not in the declining market of the last couple years) by fixing/upgrading the place. He also indicated why multi-plexes are the best choice for this (because you can repair one unit as it becomes vacant and still have the other units bringing in rent to help witht he mortgage). He also discussed why duplexes to quads are better investment than units with more than 4 units.
He did repeat himself a lot. And picking tenants from gut reaction has worked for him it would not be my recommendation. Also I treat my tenants a lot harsher than he does because I have found that if you give an inch they may take a mile.
Overall I found the book to be usefull and he did convince me of the advantages of investing in duplexes to quads.
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