How I Made A Fortune In The Phoenix Real Estate Boom Then Gave It All Back In The Bust

THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW I WENT FROM BEING IN DEBT $50,000 AFTER BANKRUPTCY, WITH NO HOUSE OR CAR, THEN IN 10 YEARS BUILT A $1,000,000 NET WORTH INVESTING IN PHOENIX REAL ESTATE—BEFORE THE ROOF FELL IN.

Though at the time, I had no conception or goal to invest in real estate. In fact, I continued to play the stock options market and eventually the futures market as I accumulated some funds, but these efforts were not clicking. During the dot-com boom, I was actually losing money trading, while others were coining it. But when I bought my first house in the year 2000, the concept of leveraging my growing savings, credit, and the Phoenix economy into some real money finally coalesced in my mind.

SYNOPSIS:
The twelve chapters in Part I of this manuscript deal with my move to Phoenix and how I got started investing in properties. They are, in fact, a how-to guide to making money in real estate investing. The strategies: whether buying new homes, building a spec house, or buying and dividing land—can be used right out of the box to create your own custom plan to make money in properties.

These methods are real-world and they get results. You will see how, through my exceptional timing and deal selection, I was able to much more than double my investment within a year of acquiring each of the properties.

Part I is the fun part of the narrative and might inspire readers to pursue their own dreams of building a fortune via property investing. I give all the details: copies of actual docs, pictures, plans of the houses and land, how they were financed; all the inside secrets to doing deals and turning dogs into dollars. I tell everything that went right and wrong. There are many dozens of charts, graphs and tables to lay every detail bare.

Part II covers my decline and fall, as well as certain Lessons Learned during the whole period from 1996 to 2008. These lessons include the subjects of Partners, Reputation and especially Timing. Additionally, there are numerous other short lessons learned dispersed throughout the book.

The aspect of timing in property investment is crucial. Because I vowed not to be taken by surprise again when a market turns down, I have done much research and included many charts showing the how and why of timing property investments. In fact, Chapter 15 is a granular look at timing residential property price cycles in order to be very precise about the best point to enter and exit these investments.

Lastly, there is no other place that I know of where an investor can see the playbook, endgame and subsequent valuations on specific properties. As such, readers will find the post-bust summary in Chapter 13 uniquely valuable. Comparing the before and after valuations on the numerous properties I acquired, you will be shocked at the difference from both before and during the boom, contrasted with after the bust!

The story of my rise and fall will provide a helpful road map to guide your future investments. Readers will be informed, cautious and knowledgeable investors who know what and when to buy and sell.

Also In the last chapter, readers will also be privy to my predictions about the future of home values.

Author's note: The original manuscript in Word format was close to 60,000 words and 200 text pages, with over 100 graphics—prior to editing. It took a solid year of full time effort to research, write and edit the draft. Then four more months to revise it.