PART ONE
Deals That Make Sense—Case Studies 7
1 One-Bedroom Houses 8
2 One Bedroom Houses Revisited 10
3 Rental Houses Revisited 11
4 A Positive Cash Flow Rental House 13
5 Buy Two, Get One for 2/3 Off 15
6 Two Bargain Houses 17
7 “Unfit for Human Occupancy” 20
8 Foreclosure Auction Case History 23
9 Gary DiGrazia’s Greatest Hit 26
10 Discount Lien Releases: Part I 29
11 Discount Lien Releases: Part II 31
12 Judgment Investing 34
PART TWO
Finding Deals That Make Sense37
13 Buyers Who Overpay: Part I 38
14 Buyers Who Overpay: Part II 40
15 Sellers Who are Likely To Sell Cheap 43
16 Sellers Who Welsh 45
17 WSJ Articles Says Fixers Rarely Profitable 48
18 The Nickerson Formula Lives 49
19 Fourteen Who Outperformed Their Market 52
20 Alcoholic and Drug Addict Sellers 54
21 A Corporation and Its Real Estate are Soon Parted 57
22 How to Make Money By Splitting Off Excess Land 59
23 Property Wanted Ads 61
PART THREE
Thoughts on Investment Strategy 63
24 How Real Estate Investing Really Works 64
25 Real Estate Investing: How Hard? How To? 66
26 Formulas That Stop Working 68
27 The Never-Sell-or-Exchange Strategy 69
28 Comfort Levels and Real Estate Investing 71
29 The Way We Were 72
30 ‘All You Need are The Right People’ 74
31 Making a Million In One Year 76
32 The Wisdom of Making Less Money Per Deal 78
33 Ranger Real Estate Investing 80
34 The Real Estate B.S. Artist Detection Checklist 83
35 Investors in a Time Warp 93
36 Properties, Properties, Everywhere, But Not a Deal Worth Doing 94
37 “Sit Back and Wait?” (11/88) 96
38 Get a Real Estate License (3/88) 97
39 Less is More Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (10/87) 98
40 Thoughts on Investment Strategy 1987 (5/87) 100
41 Clauses for When You Sell Property (12/86) 102
42 For the Investor Who Has Everything: A New Goal (10/86) 104
PART FOUR
The Contrarian Strategy 105
43 Everybody’s a #%&@! Contrarian (11/86) 106
44 Where Real Contrarians Invest (1/89) 108
45 The Selective Leper Strategy (4/87) 109
46 Workout (2/88) 111
47 Beware of Pretty Faces and Gamblers (3/87) 113
48 A Self-Postponing Prophecy (1/87) 115
49 Pride of Ownership and Your Strategy (8/86) 116
PART FIVE
The Vulture Strategy 119
50 Should You Use the ‘Vulture’ Strategy? (3/86)120
51 Back-Door Vulture Strategy (10/87) 122
52 Should You Use the Deep Pockets Strategy? (12/86) 124
PART SIX
Appreciation, Inflation, and your Investment Assumptions 127
53 Where Appreciation Comes From (2/87)128
54 Do High-Priced Properties Appreciate Faster? (4/88) 130
55 Do Higher-Priced Homes Appreciate Faster? (3/89) 131
56 Can You Assume Inflation When Deflation is so Widespread? (10/86) 132
57 Inflation Affects Real Estate Differently Today (5/87) 135
58 What if Values Don’t Always Go Up? (10/88) 138
59 The Siren Song of Speculation (10/88) 139
60 Why Prices Soar (2/89) 141
61 The Holy Graph (8/89) 142
62 Real Estate in the Depression (11/87) 145
63 The Stock Market Plunge & Real Estate (10/87) 147
64 What Free-and-Clear, Zero-Bracket Examples Reveal (5/86) 148
65 The Borrowing Buyer Who Always Sells (2/87) 151
66 How Trump Lost a Billion (5/90) 153
67 Are You Aware of Your Investment Assumptions? (10/86) 154
PART SEVEN
Mobilehome Parks, Condos, and Other Investments 157
68 Mobilehome Parks as Investments (9/86) 158
69 Investment Dangers and Opportunities in Homeowners Associations (3/87) 160
70 Condo Investment Return Well Behind Houses (5/88) 162
71 Timeshares Stink (5/89) 165
72 Rooming Houses 166
PART EIGHT
Lease-Options 169