2 Years to a Million in Real Estate

I am very glad that I read this book first. It provides just the right amount of inspiration and information. But after reading more detailed books about value-play strategies and finacial analysis, you quickly learn that this book is designed for novices. That is not a bad thing in itself. But be sure that you know why you are buying it.

I gave this book four stars because it touches upon everything you need to know about real estate investing. 'Touches upon' is the key phrase here, because Martinez fails to go into any specific detail about anything. To his defense, this book was not designed to do that. It was designed to show you that there's really not much to it. Success does not take a ton of money, and it does not take a genius. But it does take hard work and dedication.

If you want in depth detail on financing, financial anaysis, and 1031 exchanges (etc), finish this book and then go pick up a book that focuses on those aspects of investing (and is likely 2x thicker). Do not buy this book expecting it to be a one-stop shop for everything you need to know. Use it as a primer (to find out how much you don't know) and then continue your education. I think Martinez did a fine job, and accomplished what he set out to do with this book.

I found this book excellent. He covered all of the bases. Recommend this to anyone starting in commercial real estate and even to those who have limited experience.

I'm often a skeptic of some of the real estate books out there, but this one is the real deal. Matthew Martinez is someone that virtually anyone can relate to. He shows us how he turned a small nest egg into financial independence. Matthew started one property at a time while also holding a full-time job. I found the information very valuable that he grew his real estate portfolio while also working full-time to support himself. This way, he was able to put his profits back into other deals until he reached a point where he was able to walk away from his job for good. This is a great, quick read that is easy to understand, but also provides a lot of good content!

This book reminds me a little of the books written by Robert Kiyosaki. The author provides similar arguments about our schools preparing us to have jobs and not to become entrepreneurs. Let's face it, many people simply hate their jobs, hate doing nonsense work that only benefits their companies, and would leave in a heartbeat if only they could do it financially. The title of this book may suggest a quick way to get rich, but it is not. This book is not intended to make you the next Donald Trump, but to teach you how to replace your salary with income generated from rental properties.

I always believed that employees are underpaid. At least that's what I always thought when I had regular jobs. I absolutely loved Karl Marx's explanation that the author used. Marx said that employers cannot pay you what you are worth because the company relies on exploiting you for their profit. Their profit is the difference between what you are worth and what they are paying you. If the company paid you what you are worth, then it would go out of business.

The author proposes that investors should acquire income-producing properties while they are young and let the tenants pay them off so that they can live off the rental revenue stream during retirement. A more aggressive plan is to use more leverage to acquire a larger portfolio of properties.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

This book reminded me a lot about "ABC's of Real Estate Investing" by Ken MCElroy.
The one thing I like about this book is the journal entry format on how he invested, the first few chapters. He also did a a good breakdown of all the Real Estate jargons and what to look for.