Rich Dad's Real Estate Advantages: Tax and Legal Secrets of Successful Real Estate Investors

I bought my first property just before I purchased this book. I received it just before an international business trip, and didn't get any sleep on the flight because I was pouring over the basic concepts and ideas that fill this wonderful book.

If you are already in real estate and know the basics, you may not need this book. If you already have your team of advisors and know who to go for when you have questions, you may not need this book. If you understand the differences between LLCs and LP and why one is better in California than in Nevada, you may not need this book.

For most beginning real estate investors, this book is just the right amount and just the right speed to get started. Garrett and Sharon don't look at the buy-and-flip models, but rather at the advantages of staying in real estate, building a portfolio, and intelligently upgrading your properties (1031 Exchanges). They also go over the long-term planning aspects of inheritance and how to move your properties to family members with minimal taxes. They don't profess a silver bullet, but rather a rational plan to financial success through real estate.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

What can you say? It's another rich dad book. Very informative and written primarily by professionals with an in-depth view. The book is a good read for anyone. It gave me a lot to think about and some things to discuss with my team. No dull spots in this book. Read it cover to cover in a few days. Worth reading twice.

It certainly should be in your library. You're sure to find at least one or two nuggets that will more than pay for the book.

Perhaps you'd like to look into this one too:

The WealthLoop Series Beginner's Guide to Building Wealth Buying Houses: The Foolproof Roadmap to Real Estate Riches Without the Risks and Hassles of Landlording.

This book does for real estate investing what Pimsleur does for language learning: it teaches you to speak the real estate language, to ask knowledgeable questions, and to make informed decisions.

I have been through dozens of books, tapes, and CD programs on investing in real estate. Some are strictly motivational with little useful information. Others are like reference works and cannot be read from beginning to end. Still others hope to be meaningful forever and so dare not give you anything too current, or disputable and likely to change. Lechter and Sutton, however, wrote a book to turn a dreamer into a real estate investor. If that's what you still want at the end - but you have all the info to make the decision. Other reviewers might say that there are no "secrets" in this book - true, I suppose - but if YOU don't have a tutor for the subject, then for YOU common knowledge is a secret!

The authors give separate advice for dealing with primary residence and for investment properties. Most other books blur these separate cases. Special cases where individual state law might differ from the general situations are pointed out. Case studies and repetition are used throughout - much like Pimsleur uses conversation in each language lesson. The reader brings everything learned earlier to each case, but is stretched just a bit to see why each case is unique. Each chapter builds on prior chapters. Included is the required amount of math, but this is clearly not a math book. On the contrary, it is an enjoyable read cover-to-cover. Some of the material is current as of 2006 and this is clearly noted. I hope this book gets updated every few years.

While technically part of the Rich Dad series, the book stands on its own. The reader is fully aware of the few tacked-on references to the Rich Dad philosophy.

This book is a must-read for anyone thinking about a career in real estate investing in all its forms. Consider it the second book you read - after something like "Home Buying for Dummies."

Very informative. This book is full of great strategies of how to maximize your return and how to protect your real estate investments and retire comfortably. You will learn how to choose the right asset protection for your investments, how to maximize your real estate investments to your retirement advantage, the use of 1031 exchange to pass on assets to your kids without paying capital gain tax, how to mix and match business entities if you have multiple RE investments in different states, learn the advantages and disadvantages of a Nevada, Wyoming, California, Texas corporation or LLC. After reading this book, I attended a seminar with the co-author lawyer, Garrett Sutton, at a National Real Estate Investment Club Expo in L.A Convention Center. We had a Q&A after his presentation. This guy really knows his stuff. He seems to be a nice and humble person. If you are a RE investor or thinking of becoming one, I highly recommend this book. I also recommend that you consult with his office for asset protection. He does business over the phone for all states. You can also get lots of tips and info in Garrett Sutton's websites.