Gary Keller: The Millionaire Real Estate Investor : Anyone Can Do It--Not Everyone Will (Paperback); 2005 Edition

Not to discount the vast experience of this author, which I definitely acknowledge, but this book is 75% motivational "you can do it!" fluffiness and 25% great ideas. If you need the motivational pump-up, then this book is for you. If you don't (because you already KNOW you can do it or have already started doing it), you'll have to wade through a bunch of that to get to the really helpful meat of the matter. Still, if you can walk away with even one or two good ideas, the read was worth it. I just think it could have been 300 pages shorter.

Fortunately I only spent $1.99 on this Kindle book. I managed to get about 3/4 of the way thru before I just gave up. Like some other reviewers point out the first 40% of the book is all about "believe you can do it"!!! Which is great except I'm past that stage, I'm to the point where I want to understand the ins & outs and logistics of HOW to get investment properties.The book is full of super annoying oversimplifications like "do good deals"....and "buy a property that will appreciate over time"....umm duh! And there are direct quotes of similar nature from supposed millionaire investors like "partner with someone who knows what he's doing"....OMG, I can't believe this book got so many good reviews. And then there are the numerous contradictions like "buy a property in a great neighborhood where everyone wants to live", followed by advice to negotiate the least amount on price for that neighborhood where everyone wants to be. In many parts of the country its a seller's market for the great neighborhoods and you will easily blow your budget in a bidding war for location. Additional contradictions that drove me nuts were "decrease rental turnover by pricing monthly rent fairly" but then followed by the advice in later chapters to "maximize your rental income by charging extra fees for pets, storage, parking, utilities....."At the age of 39 I've built and re-built a solid budget over time but I suppose that chapter might be good for many readers. Additionally, towards the end there is a chapter on taxes which I found helpful. Honestly, I've learned way more about the process of RE investing from some (free) blogs on the web.

I read through the first 125 pages waiting for some actual real estate knowledge to show up. It's all just fluff and telling you that "you can do it" and "have the millionaire mindset". I wouldn't be looking at real estate books if I didn't already think that way. I felt like I was at a real estate workshop with "gurus" trying to sell you on all their products. There are multiple quotes from other "millionaire investors" with pieces of amazing advice such as "If I'm not going to make money, I won't buy it".There is very little in terms of actual knowledge in this book. Do not waste your time.

Has many good ideas...Just could have put all ideas on 1 sheet of paper. Lots of word fill. Maybe some people appreciate stories of success. Personally, I just wanted facts.

Many people are saying this is more motivational than how to. Of course it is. I think it's by design. How to succeed (and the definition of success itself) varies person to person, area to area.I have bought this book for many friends and my recommendation is to find 1-2 things they can take away. Mine are the goals (think, buy, own, earn a million) and the personal balance sheet. This to me is GOLD. I update my balance sheet monthly which both allows me time to reflect on the good and also motivates me when I have a 'flat/inactive' month.I read this book every summer and always pick up something new.

Like most real estate books, it's pretty generic stuff. There's nothing wrong or weird in it, it's just superficial like most other books in this category. It seems like people want to get you hungry to be rich more than they want to give you concrete skills for analyzing good and bad deals and giving specifics. Honestly, I've learned about 100x more from a few property investors in my area over dinner than I've learned from just about any book. It's good for beginners but if you own even one property, you won't learn much.

Excellent book. I own a couple properties and not all the info was new to me and I think you can find much if the info online, but not in a well written and well compiled way like this. I was validated in my thinking and strategy. The positive ‘you can do it’ and mental aspects of the game are very important and helped me. I found the success stories particularly helpful as they show you what is possible and that normal people can do this. I don’t think there was much hype. I would highly recommend it. Written by an experienced real estate guy. I’m giving it to my kids so they can start thinking in this direction early in their lives and ger set until in real estate. I wish I would have heard or read this info 20 years ago. Not sure that reading a single book will replace the need for a mentor unless you’re a complete self-starter, but this ibfonand some basics from my financial advisor got me started.

This was the first book that I have ever read on real estate investing, and oh my what an introduction it was. The book is part motivational and part instructional, which I think it's one of the best combinations for any book out there. After you finish this book, you will most likely want to start investing in real estate, even if it's in small amounts and small increments of time.