How to Retire with a Million Dollars FROM THE PUBLISHER
For author and real estate owner Elaine Zimmerman and for an ever-increasing number of individuals -- especially women -- this grim reality has been all too familiar. For Elaine, left with little money and no financial plan after divorce, a comfortable retirement seemed an impossible dream. She realized, as we all do eventually, that Social Security and company retirement plans aren't sufficient to ensure financial secruity. So Elaine followed a friend's example and took the first step toward controlling her financial future. She found a bank that financed her postdivorce home at a lower interest rate and, within three years, owned three houses worth a half million dollars. Now, with Elaine's practical, detailed, step-by-step plan for financial security through real estate investing, every woman -- and man -- can do it, too.
If you run a household, bargain-hunt and know how to stretch a dollar, you can start with the plan.
Work on real estate investing on weekends and during the evenings, while keeping your regular jobPurchase homes far below market valueBuy in the best part of town for higher long-term appreciationRent your houses for the amount of the mortgage with taxes and insurance -- or greaterAssume fixed-rate mortgages for no more than 15 years in length
From start to finish, How to Retire With a Million Dollarsﾽ covers the important topics and questions, including determining your monthly income goals; how much cash you'll need to get started; getting bank loans; down payments and financing your first house; the major tax benefits of owning rental properties; selecting neighborhoods and real estate agents; how to utilize your shopping skills to purchaseproperties; why choosing a house is like choosing a husband (good foundation -- no major structural defects; repairs -- what to fix what to forget); refinancing and financing house two, three, etc.; building your real estate portfolio; foreclosures, bargain homes and other deals; tenants and leases.
Complete with a glossary of mortgage-related terms, this indispensable book offers an easy-to-follow strategy to get you started in real estate investing and keep you motivated, whether you're working alone or with the help of a partner. Start building your financial future now -- one house at a time!
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Even as enthusiastically extolled here, the business of buying and maintaining rental houses to become a millionaire might seem as much trouble as any other line of work, but Zimmermann wrote the book mostly for "women [who] can manage a household budget and know... how to bargain shop." She delivers the details and makes it all sound like fun. Despite inconsistencies on what the rental rate must cover and the advantages of buying directly from a homeowner, this guide is loaded with real-life material: buying and fixing up cheaply "the dog of the neighborhood" (one such house rose $60,000 in value within a year); finding at a good price houses on sale because of job loss, transfer, divorce, death or foreclosure by government agencies; tenant screening, with specific rental procedures, along with sample forms for deposit agreement, rental applications, leases and the like. The author, who is based in Tennessee, touches only lightly on two important subjects affecting rental profitreal-estate taxes and property insurancebut never mind, this is a terrifically useful book. (Mar.)
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