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Rating: 
Summary: Creating Wealth is still a winner.
Review: After the phenomenal success of "Nothing Down" in 1980, Robert Allen's second real estate book "Creating Wealth" published is 1983 was a big disappointment. Even when I read it for the first time in 1983 I was let down. Reading it again in 2003 "Creating Wealth" is even a bigger disappointment. The chapter on Federal Income Taxes is totally obsolete having been written before the tax changes of both 1987 and 1997. The introduction of the Alternate Minimum Tax makes the paying of zero taxes, as proposed by this book even more difficult if not impossible. The ... cap on passive rental losses and the extension of depreciation schedules to 27.5 years for residential properties also has effectively limited a taxpayer's ability to pay zero taxes. The chapter on coin collecting seems to be out of place in this book. Those 16 pages in a 300 page book on real estate seem to serve little purpose except as a failed attempt to show that the author is not one dimensional. The chapter on where to put your cash is also extremely out of date when banks, CDs, and money markets are paying such low current interest. Additionally the book was written before the savings and loan bailout. The chapter on asset protection is weak and was written pre-LLCs. And the chapter of Limited Partnerships is also dated.Some of the content is a repeat of what was in "Nothing Down" and some of the content is repeated in later books by the author. The story of "Acres of Diamonds" and of the LA Times challenge are later written about in other Allen books. There are some excellent points made in the book, one of my favorites is that the buying of real estate is the most exciting aspect of real estate, while the rental management is boring and a hassle. In that chapter entitled "I Hate Real Estate", the author says that despite the hassles he buys real estate "because the good points far outweigh the bad ones." That does sum it up, real estate is a way for an average person to make some money, increase your assets, and retire early. Also included in the book is his automatic pilot program, whereby real estate throws off cash with little time investment. The chapter on the "Lazy Man's Method" also is worth while and explains his idea of advertising for sellers to call you. There are interesting tips and his "Property Selection Grid" will help to distinguish a good purchase from a bad purchase, and an excellent purchase from a marginal one. The 5 categories on the grid are seller motivation, location, financing, price, and property condition. By evaluating each property on a scale of 1 to 3 for each category you can determine if a property is worth pursuing. Allen says only buy property scoring 12 or above. Overall the book is not as good as "Nothing Down" and several chapters are out of date, therefore I can only rate it 2 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely out dated
Review: Although the cover of the book reads "Completely revised and updated" this book is painfully out of date. Allen's references are all in the 1980's. $39K for a single family home, interest rates at 18%. I don't care what city you live in or near these references simply don't make sense in todays climate. I had to stop reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Allen's Creative Financing Techniques....
Review: Aside from the many wealth building tools in Creating Wealth, what I found particularly interesting were the creative financing techniques on buying real estate. In Creating Wealth Robert G. Allen explains in clear simple language, how anyone can locate the best buys, negotiate, deal with real estate agents and manage properties. Allen shows you how to solve your immediate cash-flow problems and build equity for the future. Best of all, he shows you how to do it with the least amount of your own money---even with no money down. Allen became a self made millionaire by using his own "Nothing Down" approach, demolishes the notion that "it takes money to make money," and offers imaginative and practical income producing formulas. Further, Allen shows you how to do this without large down payments. Followers of Allen's methods have been overwhelmingly successful in building up sizable equity in several properties simultaneously. Many people have found that buying real estate with Nothing Down is not all that difficult. The real problem is generating cash flow and staying out of trouble once you take over the property. Allen devotes an entire chapter called Leverage: I love debt to show you how to buy right and an additional chapter called How to overcome the major obstacles that leverage creates to help keep out of trouble. In Creating Wealth, Allen offers 8 Nothing Down techniques, a property analysis form, a grid chart and scripts to call on prospective sellers (don't wanters) The book provides specific techniques for: * Successful Negotiation * Tax-free retirement in 5 years * Direct, legal tax cuts * Financing * Locating bargain properties * Selling and trading for maximum gain * Increasing property value * Overcoming the biggest roadblocks to success In chapter 12, Allen discloses the enormous profits in discounted mortgages, offers sample ads to run, strategies and fundamentals on how to structure the deals. Creating Wealth was a great book when it came out and it is still a great book. Disregard reviewers who say this book is too old or outdated. The techniques still work. Ask anyone who has actually used the strategies. And don't listen to those paper tigers who write nonsense and have no real world investing or business experience.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thoughtful Book
Review: Creating Wealth is a thoughtful book. It presents a lot of "How-to" techniques that teaches you how to create wealth in real estate, collectible coins, all the way to using corporations to your advantage. The Real Estate section is particular well done and i really like the charts and diagrams he used to demonstrate what to look for, how to look for it, what to buy, what not to buy. The author also provides a series of negotiation scripts to demonstrate how the whole process works. Compare with some of Robert Allen's later books, i think this one is more complete, more thought out and less on self bravados. I would suggest that you should read/study this book with an open mind and a critical eye. This book is about establishing a different thinking process, but you'll still need to have the technical know-hows to fully protect yourself from any Real Estate Pitfalls.
Rating:
Summary: Still works in the new millenium
Review: I bought this book in the mid 1980's and it worked. During the 90's, I switched to stock market investing and put real estate investing on hold. With the bear market that started during the Clinton years, I started to move back into real estate and discounted mortgages and other securities as espoused by Allen such as Gold and Gold Stocks and mutual funds. Creating Wealth was an excellent book back in the 80's and it is an even better book today. The advice is timeless and is based on what really works in the real world, not just some writers opinion as is the case with too many other books out there today. If you are serious about real estate investing and creating wealth, I highly recommend this book along with "Nothing Down for the 90's."
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Allens best Real Estate Book.
Review: I used the technique in "Creating Wealth" coupled with "Nothing Down" to buy my first home with NOTHING DOWN. Further, my investing in real estate properties, I was able to earn enough money to pay off my home in under 5 years and replace my salary from my job of 20 years. Some of the information in "Creating Wealth" is duplicated from "Nothing Down" but there is also much newer information as well. For example, Allen shows you the traps to avoid in buying properties with Nothing Down that most other authors ignore. HE ALSO offers scripts to use when calling home owners. While I don't expect to become a millionaire (wasn't my goals anyway) I have achieved financial independence in that I am debt free and live very well on the income generated from Mr. Allen's strategies. I also recommend "Multiple Streams of Income" and "Multiple Streams of Internet Income."
Rating:
Summary: An enlightening novel
Review: This book is great. It has given me the plan to apply to my motivation. The advantages of investing in real estate are amazing and this book shows many of them. I read this book after reading four of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, and must say I enjoyed the change. While Robert T. Kiyosaki gives reasons for getting wealth and motivation to gain wealth, Robert Allen actually puts forth a plan for gaining wealth. This book is about strategy. Allen has a plan that worked for him, and he shares it with us. Buy real estate, three bedroom houses, and rent them. After ten years, buying two houses a year, one could have a million dollars in equity. I also like the way he writes. His style is entertaining and exciting. He loves what he does, and it comes across in his writing. Additionally, he gives tips on finding the right houses, the right neighborhoods, the right sellers, the right financing, and the right tenants. I encourage you to buy and read this book, because I think you will read it more than once.
Rating:
Summary: A book that will show you how to create wealth...by someone
Review: who has done it! Creating Wealth was written back in the mid 1980's, interestingly enough, a time when the economy was very similiar to the current economy, a time when a strong republican was in office and a time when tax cuts and other powerful strategies were being introduced by the administration that was in charge at that time. However, Creating Wealth is a good book for anytime. It offers timeless advice by Robert G. Allen, a man who has helped create more millionaires and financially successful people than anyone in history. In this book by Robert Allen, a followup to Nothing Down which was at that time a national best seller and stillselling very well today, 23 years later, you will learn how to create a wealth building program tailored to your own individual needs. In Creating Wealth, Allen explains the fundamental ideas and principles which made him a multimillionaire before he was thrity-five. His surprisingly simple---and effective strategies can help any investor amass and maintain a fortune starting with little or even no money, yes, even in todays volatile financial climate. The first step to becoming wealthly, Allen tells us, is to stop thinking poor. He shows how most of us have been programmed to think that only saving is good, debt and risk taking is bad, and that in our efforts to gain security we disqualify ourselves from ever making a substantial amount of money. By developing the "wealthy mindset" as explained by Allen, you can launch yourself into financial self reliance. Robert Allen's practical and innovative investment advice, combined with a realistic set of goals and values along with a firm committment to getting ahead, can help you achieve a level of success you never dreamed was possible. In Creating Wealth you will learn how to: * master the seven principles of wealth * develop a winning wealth strategy suited to your own unique
circumstances. * make the opportunities come to you * organize your life and your money to avoid taxes * perpetuate your wealth once you have it * retire within ten years! The key lies in Allen's unique integration of real estate with other wealth generating investments. Creating Wealth provides detailed information on how to use leverage to multiply holdings while minimizing risks; how to take the greatest advantage of the tax system; when to diversify and in what directions, including special sections on high yield discounted mortgages, numismatics, limited partnerships, money markets and more; and how to set up corporations and trusts to protect your assets. At a time when just keeping up with the bills and hanging on to a job is difficult, bankruptcies at an all time new high, Creating Wealth offers a system to get ahead. No matter how much or how little you've got to start with, Robert Allen's proven strategies can help you build---and keep---a fortune. The parts of the book that I found most useful were * The Automatic Pilot Principle * Enormous Profits in Discounted Mortgages * Numismatics: the secret of the Midas Touch * Liquid Money and where to pour it * Insulating your assets from Liability and Lawyers. * The Win/Win Philosophy; How to achieve Win/Win Wealth
in a Win/Lose World. Creating Wealth provides a sophisticated investment strategy that will help you achieve and perhaps even more importantly, maintain wealth. Good book and I highly recommend it.
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