The Foreclosures.Com Guide to Making Huge Profits Investing in Preforeclosures without Selling Your Soul
By Alexis McGee
Wiley, 2007
Can you really make huge profits investing in foreclosure real estate?
People have surely done so in the past.
Is doing so as easy as “everyone” would have you believe?
Probably not.
Can just anyone do it?
Clearly not.
And now, the most important question: Can this book help you make huge profits by investing in pre-foreclosure real estate?
Again, probably not. But reading The Foreclosures.com Guide will give you a lot of information, as well as some interesting investing stories, which will stimulate your thinking about how to make a lot of money.
What this book is: Essentially, this book provides a framework for offering counseling to those whose houses are in or are near foreclosure-that is, the process by which a lender sells a house to settle the outstanding liens against it.
According to the author, that counseling may lead to a profit, but may also simply lead to “feeling good” about what you might do to help another human being who is in trouble.
The book contains many anecdotes-stories of successful and unsuccessful investors who worked to invest in foreclosures. The stories are amusing, but are clearly fluff meant to entertain.
The real strength of the book for the beginning investor is its review of the laws surrounding foreclosure (including the book’s caution that laws vary by jurisdiction, and its injunction that you make sure you are following the laws of the jurisdiction in which you are helping); its general background on the terminology and landscape of foreclosure; and an excellent glossary of terms.
The Foreclosures.com Guide also offers a rudimentary education in the finance and mathematics of investing in foreclosures, as well as sources of additional information, including McGee’s website, Foreclosures.com.
What this book is not: Although the book provides a primer on foreclosure, I caution readers: Do not invest your first million after simply reading this book.
For many of us, real estate has been the best long term investment we have ever made. Many investors believe that housing prices will decline and that marketing times for houses will increase in the intermediate future. However, the current headlines are replete with bad news for real estate investors. As an investor, you need to examine the real estate climate for yourself to determine whether the timing is right for you.
Consider taking a class in real estate finance and attending a few real estate auctions to get a flavor for what goes on in a foreclosure. Experience is a teacher. It is important that that education not be too expensive.
