1 Minute to Rental Property Riches Review Pt1

That's right, as most of you know the infamous MikeOH and his trademark USE OF CAPS in posts. Some of you might not know that he has a book called: 1 Minute to Rental Property Riches. I recently ordered the book and received it today. I've asked MikeOH if he would object to me giving a review of the book and he has given me his blessings and informed me to write anything I want about it. I will do this review in 3 parts to break it up a little and make it easier to read.

A little back story about me and why I'm doing this.

Most of you know me as the short sale and Sub2 investor. I don't dare say 'guru' because even I know better. I consider myself a practitioner. I'm not going to go into how much money I have or make because trust me, I'm not Donald Trump. I do however have several rentals that I never talk about simply because I'm not an expert landlord. I own these houses and consider them a savings account. I understand appreciation, deprecation, expenses and the rest of the mumbo jumbo. Truth is I've always had a property management company handle things for me simply because I own the properties free and clear. Recently I had a major issue with a property management company that wasn't involved in any of my long term owned free and clear rentals.

That prompted me to think if I'm not going to be personally involved, at least I can learn a thing or two, just in case.

As most of you know MikeOH is strongly opinionated and I will admit he's a bit annoying sometimes. To me, it seems as though he doesn't understand what does or doesn't work for him in his particular market may or may not work in other markets. Even though I'm annoyed by him sometimes, I do know that at least in his market he knows what he talking about.

I also find it a turn off reading his blog posts that he deals with so many issues with deadbeat tenants. I continue to think, MikeOH, if you were so knowledgeable and experienced then why do you keep having all these issues?

I decided to purchase his book: 1 Minute to Rental Property Riches.

I decided to buy his book for a few reasons. It's only $47, He's a fellow and active member of BP and at least if I had an issue or question, I was confident I could or would be able to get a hold of him easily.

So lets get into a little reviewing by yours truly.

It showed up on the front porch today and it was a slightly bigger box than I expected. I opened it up and noticed it's HUGE! not thick like the books we dreaded having to read in high school, but huge that it was as big as a notebook or a workbook. I thought to myself how ridiculous it was to have such a big book instead of the standard size book. I instantly assumed and stereotyped it as the pages being overly spaced out like so many other books that I've bought(I got a sub2 ultimate guide that comes in a 3 ring binder that has at most 4 sentences per page!!!) I won't say who the pusher of that 3 ring binder, but if you read between the lines you'll figure it out. Anyways, so without opening the book yet I automatically assumed another $47 wasted.

I skimmed through and was noticing that the pages weren't overly spaced and the size of the book was actually serving a purpose which I agreed with in a very short amount of time without actually reading anything yet.

I'm only up to page 70 or so and that's why I think this will be a 3 part in depth review of the book. I want to read and absorb it pieces at a time to give a relevant review.

After the standard introduction, table of contents, some other basic stuff including an example of a deal he did early on he seems to spend a lot time talking about gurus. I almost feel as though he spent too much time talking about gurus but I can't say that I disagree with what he said.

One thing I did respect that he did was speak about business plans and more specifically rental property business plans. He also puts his exact business plan in there for you to view. If nothing else, the book is worth the $47 just for this, to see a successful business plan you can use as a guideline to your own business plan is worth far more than $47

Some of the rest of the stuff he wrote about was not new to me but I can see the value if your new to REI all together. He does go into the 50% rule and the 2% rule. I know there is always talk about it and questions to clarify in the forums. I'm not saying his book clarifies any more, but what I am saying is that most people over analyze those 'rules of thumb'.

I won't go into explaining it, there is plenty of threads talking about it. I'd say to those that are overly analyzing it, STOP

He then goes into locating deals which is pretty basic and standard, you can't fault him for that. There is only so many ways to locate properties but if you're completely new to REI and the rental property business then it could add some value. It's not something you wouldn't find right here on BP and I think MikeOH would agree to that. If he didn't put some of that stuff in the book, it might only be a 50 page book.

The next section is about 'purchasing' properties and again, it's not something new and he doesn't go into any one of them in depth and I don't blame him, there are a gazillion and one other books that go into depth about these specific buying strategies. His book is about being in then rental business, that's all.

He goes into some landlording basics about finding tenants, the use of yard signs and other things. One thing I think he should add is when he mentions pre-screening tenants. He mentions that he keeps the calls short which is cool and tells them to drive by the property and then call back to view the inside which is also cool by me. What I thought should be added to that(in my opinion) is to have multiple tenants show up at the same time to show the property. This may and will vary as opinions but I think it's a great thing to include into the book.

If you've read or own this book, you'll now know that this is the end of this part 1 of the review. I'm about half way through it and by looking at the table of contents, it looks like I'll be getting into some more advanced topics very soon so my continued review will reflect that.

As for now, I am officially not stating whether it's a good book or not due to not completing it yet. You'll have to wait to find out.