Confessions of a Former RK Addict

My first real estate investment book purchase wasn’t actually about real estate at all–RK’s Rich Dad books inspired us to action and I will be forever grateful.

Unfortunately, most of the real estate advice and examples were seriously dated, going back to before the humongous tax reforms that changed real estate investment forever back in the ’80’s. I came away with some vague ideas on buying property for nothing down on the courthouse steps, forming an S Corp and hiding out our assets in Nevada.

It took months of re-programing just to pick through the train-wreck on the floor of my brain to form a coherent plan that might someday work in our locale. I feel a bit silly now… if I’d just known that RK’s strength is financial literacy and inspiration, maybe I wouldn’t have gorged on multiplex ownership at the all-you-can-eat buffet.

To The Rescue

Just finished reading Terry Sprouse’s book, Fix Em Up, Rent Em Out, and sitting here wishing I’d had this resource back then. This is just right–concise and tightly focused with a workable plan to get moving forward. Had this been our first intro to REI, we might’ve started 2-3 years sooner.

The first sentence of the introduction targets Terry’s audience like a Patriot Missile: “This book is aimed at the person who has a strong desire to invest in real estate but wants to keep his or her regular 9 to 5 job.” And with that, the cobwebs of my mind cleared–most REI books are a waste of money because they just don’t apply. An innocent newbie could plow through 18 chapters before discovering the intended audience is “twenty-two year old felons from Detroit with ADD and shattered credit who can’t hold a job more than 6 months due to authority issues.”

But I digress…

My favorite chapters have to be Chapter 8:  Renting Out Houses (we’ve been landlords awhile and I still yellowed up the whole chapter) and 11: A Tale of Two Investment Strategies (love, love, loved reading about his experience with these two houses~)

Without breaking a sweat, about 10 people come to mind who could use this book. Good job, Terry– very nice indeed:)

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