NOTHING DOWN: How to Buy Real Estate with Little or No Money Down

by Robert G. Allen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1979

A sleazy, one-dimensional advisory that extols the rewards of leveraged real estate investment while all but ignoring the risks involved. Still in his thirties, Allen reputedly has amassed several million dollars worth of rental property using the decidedly offbeat and often unethical methods he describes--such as acquiring as many Master Charge, Visa, or other credit cards as possible to secure signature loans on a moment's notice. Then, to convince mortgage lenders that all or part of a down payment has not been borrowed, ""You may tell the banker that you are going to sell one of your other properties at a profit. . . Then do it if you have to!"" Included as well is counsel about latching on to ""OPM (other people's money)"" to swing attractive purchases, deeding donors interests of 50 percent or less in return for their funds and retaining the balance as expertise equity. For Allen, moreover, sellers are in the main suckers who can be manipulated by street-wise go-getters. He is particularly fond of don't-wanters--unfortunates he describes as willing to do anything to unload their property. To hook such fish, Allen recommends trolling in the target community's commercial register, a publication that records all local divorces, judgments, bankruptcies, foreclosures, deaths, and probates. Most serious, though, is his narrow vision of real estate as a one-way road to riches for sharp operators with short bankrolls. Nowhere, for instance, does he address such critical matters as building codes, tenant relations, the essential illiquidity of real estate commitments, the tax aspects of property ownership, the renaissance of rent-control laws, or other pitfalls awaiting the unwary. A far better bet for cash-poor entrepreneurs seeking smart-money tips is Harney's Beating Inflation with Real Estate (p. 427).

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION