The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner: A Lifetime Plan to Finish Rich in Real Estate

Read this book as I’m purchasing my first home in a hot market. In 2021! It’s pretty amazing on how spot on he was about the pending doom of the RE market in 05. Now we are in a similar environment. High prices, low rates, low inventory and now the shadow of a global health crisis.I bought now because it just so happens we are ready now. We found a home that fits my family and we found a way to house hack with family. We put enough down to avoid PMI and we plan to stay for a while and put some extra on the principal for max pay down. Hopefully a bi weekly option is available for that extra yearly payment. 3.375 Fixed Conventional. I also know we paid a premium of atleast $20k. So our equity is surely exposed to some extent.The book laid out the three best options if you are also in this position - Having a home with substantial (>20%) equity.1. Continue to pay down the mortgage as fast as possible, to eliminate your housing payment to aid in a comfortable retirement or early/semi retired.2. Purchase more properties for rentals and cash flow or move to a new home and rent your old house out. Repeat over and over until satisfied.3. Invest in other assets such as stocks or bonds that pay more in returns and dividends that the interest rate.All great advice based on a foundation of simply buying a home with a plan to wealth. Here is one of those plans. 5 stars from the relevant future.

This is a decent book on purchasing real estate and becoming a real estate investor for people who have no experience.The book is clearly written for an audience that has never conducted a real estate transaction before and spends a lot of time building justification for purchasing property (price appreciation, equity building, owning something physical unlike stock), etc.Overall: it's a great book. If you don't own real estate and are curious about how it all works: this is one of the best high-level introductions out there. David does a great job of explaining the basic idea of how it works, showing numbers to demonstrate what the upside looks like, and also provides some clear warnings of things to look out for.Now, here are the downsides:If you already own a property or are knowledgeable about real estate basics, this book will not be of much use. I purchased my first home about a year ago and was already well-versed in everything discussed.This book was also written BEFORE the last major economic depression, which was primarily driven by real estate. It's funny looking back at this book because a lot of the things it loosely encourages were the same practices that lead to the most recent bust: people purchasing homes they can't afford with no down payments, stuff like that. If you read this book and think your home will appreciate 100% in 2 years, you will be in for a sore surprise.So be smart about it. Treat this book as a basic guide to owning real estate, but ignore the overly lofty appreciation goals and massive wealth stories David tells: they are no longer relevant in today's market.If I had to sum this book's advice up in a sentence or two, here's what I'd say:Buying a home and paying it off will make you richer than renting. When you purchase a home, purchase something you can afford (don't spend more than 33% of your take-home income on housing costs), and you'll be OK. When you buy a place, either get a 15 year fixed or a 30 year fixed rate mortgage: don't go for the variable rate ARM loans, they are too risky.If you follow that advice, you'll be well off.

I would have given this book a 5-Star review if not for a bad feeling I got throughout the book. My concern isn't with the ideas at the core of the book. Rather, I found Bach's words to push for home ownership so hard that some readers may find themselves following his advice and getting saddled with a mortgage that will eat them alive. In Bach's defense, he does little to "approve" of some of the riskier financing options. He seems to steer the reader toward fixed rate mortgages which I wholeheartedly agree with. While he doesn't offer approval of balloon mortgages and other risky techniques, he doesn't do a sufficient job of warning rookie homebuyers of their danger. The underlying principles such as resisting the temptation to make your first house your dream house are great. Also, he is absolutely correct in predicting that smartly buying a starter home early in life will launch first time buyers into financial success. We know home prices have a historic upward trend so one can reasonably expect that they will see appreciation unless they hit a 2007-08 crash right after they buy. A smart home buyer can use that appreciate to his/her advantage and use the appreciation as further down payment as you work your way toward your dream house or stronger investment properties. Overall, great book although accept his advice with caution.

Awesome information, this information should be shared with everyone who has a desire to be successful, so that they can be aware that it is not impossible to own your first home and then progress forward in becoming a landlord. This book gives insight and motivates you shedding light at the end of the tunnel, not through a get rich quick scheme but by discipline

Full of relevant information.

This is good book educating people on what to look out for before purchaing a house. Highly recommended..

Book was in great condition!

Quality of the book is not good