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Rating: 
Summary: Great follow up!
Review: How many times have you spoken to an author of a book? Well I have already spoken with Mr. Garrison on a couple of occassions and he does what he says, he follows up with you and gives you some awesome ideas on what you need to get started. I highly recomend this book, sure it won't answer all of your questions, but what book will? The great thing is that you can actually e-mail them or call them and they will respond promptly! Great book!
Rating: 
Summary: My personal experience, not just a review
Review: I have studied real estate investing for over two years and never new how to take the first step towards buying a rental income property. I tried book after book and even an on TV CD program nothing was getting me any closer. Then I met Marc and Paula Garrison who along with their personal guidence help me get started this past August 2003. I have bought three properties thus far all due to the one buying tour I went on recently. Everything they discuss in this book is true gold. If you want hand holding every step of the way this is a must read. The information in this book has never been shared outside of the students that go on one of their tours. Because of Marc and Paula I now have a network of dozens of students that have been on their tours to network with, its a great group to share ideas. I am not investing in the state I live, but have all the contacts I need in that state, due to the buying tour I went on. I am going on another buying tour March 30 in a different state and can't wait to get started there. Many of the buying tour students are repeat attendees, which speaks for itself. Contact Marc via the book or at NAREI.COM he always returns your calls.Todd Bertocchi
Part-time real estate investor
Rating: 
Summary: Too much product promotion
Review: I purchased this book because it got a good review in another publication, but I was disappointed upon reading in. The more I read of the book the more it became apparent that the object of the book was to encourage readers to sign up for the authors annual property buying trip. The message of the "buying trip" comes out again and again throughout the book. It seems that the authors, and their collaborators, find properties for people who sign up for these buying trips, and then these same people buy the properties. It would have added a lot to the book if the authors had described the criteria he used for selecting the properties. By going to a different town and purchasing properties that other people have selected for you seems to violate a basic principal of investing. That principal is to mantain control of your property, which is harder to do the farther away from it you are, particularly for beginning investors. I believe that real estate investors should be in control of the process of evaluating properties and not rely on "experts" to make those decisions for them. I suggest buying something closer to home and do your own analysis of a property's value. In the long run you'll be better off.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of good tools
Review: The author recommends "timing" the market. I'm not a big fun of market timing, but it was interesting to know that enrollment of K-6 has something to do with real estate market. Typical to some real estate investing books (such as Shemin's books), this book has a lot of "buy my course" ad in it, but I still like that book as it contains a lot of useful tools, especially about how to plan your investing and how to start.
Rating:
Summary: Good Start
Review: This book certainly deserves credit for laying down simple yet tangible steps to becoming a successful real estate investor.
However, I felt I was left "hanging" at the end of several chapters. Before I knew it, I was at the "Managing and Selling Your Properties" thinking "Whoa, what happened to the actual researching and buying process?" I know for myself, locating and buying my first home was the longest, most difficult, and most emotional process I have been through in a long time.
I got a sense that the authors were more interested in getting you motivated and then to contact them to get setup with a mentor. Which is great. I just felt there should have been a few more details. A slight disappointment given the size of the book.
Anyway, I do recommend the book. Just don't get your hopes up that this is the first and last guide you will buy for your real estate investing career.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: This book is a must for anyone thinking about creating aditional income outside of their 9-5 jobs. Not only does the book give you very clear instructions on how you can use real estate to achieve financial freedom, but Garrison takes such a hands on approach rarely seen these days, and it is a very plesant suprise and addition! Throughout the book he inculdes his and his wife's e-mail addresses so that if you have any questions you can contact them. I happend to have a question and he gave me a full and detailed response within 48 hours. How many other best selling authors are willing to do that? Great book..easy to follow..a definate must for anyone looking to expand their horizions and earn some extra income!
Rating:
Summary: Not much help
Review: This book says that market analysis is vital in real estate investing, but it doesn't really tell you how to do it. It gives a long list of questions to be answered about a city to determine whether or not it's a good time to invest. However, it doesn't tell you what to do with the answers. It doesn't tell you how to analyze the information or how to compare markets to see which ones are good or bad. Nor does it cover the challenges of investing in property in another state. This would be vital information since the author says to live where you want and invest where it makes sense. Another problem is makes it seem easy to be successful in real estate, as if all you have to do is follow the book's instructions and you're almost guaranteed riches. There are no detailed case studies to support the book's claims; just some vague "success" stories. A lot of the rest of the information in this book is dated because it's just pulled from another book the author wrote in 1986.
Rating:
Summary: Judge this book by its cover
Review: To find out how bad this book is, you don't have to read any more than the back cover. Right at the top it says "Your bible for real estate investing!" [...] It would take a miracle to fit everything you need to know about real estate investing into one 382-page book. The problem is this book doesn't comprehensively cover many necessary topics, such as: taxes, accounting, rental laws, etc. Regardless, the book claims it will help "you understand all the ins and outs of the real estate market." Obviously, there's no way to fit everything you need to know into one book. [...]
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