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.

I wish I could return this one. These "Build a 900,000 dollar portfolio in less than a year" (nearly direct quote from this book) books aren't for investors, they're for speculators, and we've all seen what has happened to speculators the past couple months. And the people who write them are neither investors or speculators, they are scammers. Buy the Wall Street Journal Complete Real-Estate Investing Guidebook instead. Or even Real Estate Investing for Dummies, just not this book.

Just as the book's title covers, the author makes some very good points about investing in multi-family 4 units less residences. I agree with him that this is the best way for beginners and amateurs to acquire wealth through real estate. You really can't argue with his interest rate and tax advantage arguments. But I mostly think his strategies are the most realistic and sensible I've ever read.

He doesn't try to feed some "insight" as to picking up real estate for 60 cents on the dollar like some of these other "gurus" tell us you can. Good luck with that! If you follow this book's advice, you'll save yourself a lot of time and embarrassment. But surprise surprise... you need money and good credit to do it.

The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I couldn't possibly disagree with his management advice more. I was actually extremely surprised to see a lawyer recommending such dangerous management practices. Maybe he does want you to get in legal trouble so he can stir up some business... I don't know.

All in all, this book is highly recommended for amateur real estate investors because I really do think multi-family is the way to go. But ignore his management advice and buy a book on property management elsewhere.

When I began reading the book I thought to my self: what does a lawyer know about RE investing? The book started out slow but it quickly caught my attention and I just couldn't put it down. This author gives you first hand experience on the subject and walks you through every step of the process. The book is straight to the point, and charts and diagrams complete the picture he is trying to put together. He explains why it is better to invest in multi family units properties versus single family residence AND SHOWS YOU WHY! He shows you how to calculate if you are making a wise financial investment or poor one at that. Overall there is no bull crap here. He is not some want to be real estate guru with how to get rich schemes. Actually he talks down on those gurus that hold those waste of money seminars. He is realistic with his methods and backs it up with plenty of evidence. A must have if you are looking to purchase multi dueling unit properties.

I have been in the real estate game for 10 years, starting with "flipping" (before it was trendy), then to building "spec" homes (because it was trendy), and finally to "hold and rent" (because I had to!). After the boom, I had several homes that would not sell and reluctantly turned to rentals as a last resort to cut down my mortgage outlay. Much to my relief, it worked!

Since that revelation, I recently set out to find information specializing in "Buy/Fix/Rent" methods and along comes this book. At first blush, it was exactly what I was looking for - and with glowing reviews to boot! Bullseye, right? Well not quite...

THE GOOD: Great introduction for beginners, providing a nice foundation of information. Definitely like his reasoning behind buying multi-family residences. Section on Valuation of Property was a good read.

THE BAD: You need to be fairly well financed for down payments, renovations, margin, etc., and have very good credit. He only buys in middle to upper middle class 'yuppie' areas, that are near where he lives. That may not apply to everyone. He disregards lower income and out-of-state areas as options (I found his explanations a bit unsatisfactory). He also advocates being the property manager, which is a legitimate full time job (believe me, I know!). His long-term success relies largely on appreciation and buying more properties by pulling out equity with refinancing, which is tough sledding these days (not his fault, he wrote this when that was not an issue).

THE UGLY: At the risk of being offensive, his blurb on Selecting Tenants was laugh-out-loud funny. I guess his gut is the divining rod of the rental world. Sorry, I could not resist commenting on that.

In conclusion, this is a quick read and there are some solid pieces to the puzzle (especially if you are a beginner), but I can't quite adapt this to my situation.