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4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Wealth comes from Chaos! Feb 17, 2011
By Jaime Vasquez
I'm a real estate investor in San Antonio, Texas. I've been flipping houses in San Antonio since 2003 and thru the years I would constantly hear tales of "Mitch and Sam". Title companies, mortgage brokers, real estate agents and other investors would talk about the massive scale flip operation these guys were running in San Antonio. Many local investors, including myself, have adopted Mitch Stephens style of flipping as our own, and it has worked for me. I had never met the men, so for me they were something of a "urban myth", until I found a free chapter for download and I was compelled to drive over to meet Mr Stephens and buy his book personally. Since then Mitch has called me looking for houses/deals, this guy is the real deal!! I am very picky when I buy real estate books, I don't want pie in the sky systems by professional gurus, I want real information from the guys doing what I do. That made buying this book a no brainer!
"wealth comes from chaos"-mitch stephen
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Insightful Sep 03, 2010
By James Allen
I have been developing and investing in real estate for 22 years. I had heard of Mitch's reptuation of not just being very honorable but his ability to make money in ALL situations. I read the whole book in one sitting as it reminded me of what it takes to be a smart investor, how to deal with other people, and even more importantly how to deal with adversity. And the most important thing for investors and entrepreneurs; how do deal with themselves.
This is not a "get rich quick" book. It is a book that looks at ALL sides of investing, which is germaine for long term investing. Finally someone is honest enough to open themselves up and show the mistakes they have made and how hard things are, but how to win the fight. When people put themselves out there as " the new messiah of investing", it is interesting, that after 7-10 years they disappear.
This book is a must read if you want to be an entrepreneur and it is an imperative read for real estate investors.
Candidly, I have done more real estate and larger deals, but I knew how Mitch transforms people around him and how he has this way of making things work through adversity. I even called Mitch, who was surprised I read the book ( especially in one sitting ) and told him THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. He says the things that people dont want to talk about in life and investing. He also demonstrates ideas and processes on how to make things work for all involved. I truly walked away from this book with new ways to handle things, especially conflict in deals or deals that are in conflict.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Personal story and fast read Jan 03, 2011
By Reviewer
Unlike all of the other real estate investment books, this one is autobiographical and contains less posturing, marketing, and salesmanship than others. Mitch Stephen still has his websites that he likes to mention throughout the book, but it isn't like reading a sales pitch as many of the other investment books are.
The book is divided into two parts. The first is largely autobiographical, explaining how Mitch Stephen went from stressed and overworked with no time to happily overworked and financially independent. I think this is the easiest thing to appreciate in the book: this guy has always and will continue to work his butt off, but his message is not that you should work your butt off so you can be like him; instead he is telling you how he found purpose and passion in his work and the effort came naturally. He also admits that he isn't going to tell you how to make your money, or even if you should get into real estate. But he's telling you how he ended up in real estate, and I find that kind of story more relevant and applicable than any generic step-by-step instruction manual on how to be somebody that you aren't. His story doesn't leave out his feelings of self doubt, the failiures, and the ups and downs. It is peppered with pieces of his personal life that obviously led him to make some of the decisions he did, such as abandoning everything in a low point of his life to work on the road for several years, which eventually allowed him to minimize his expenses and save up enough cash to make his first investments. This is refreshing in a genre of books that is full of only sanitized success stories and simplified schemes.
The second part of the book (or later ~third) is a random collection of stories about his experiences as an investor. These stories reveal a bit more of the personality in Mitch Stephen that one might find in common with other investors. He explains one trick he used to contact the owner of an abandoned property, for example, and given the context of the story it made sense. Another writer would simply present a "how to contact owners of abandoned houses" list. Given the context of the story, however, you can see how he might have come to do what he did. When you are deeply involved in something every day, you are bound to get innovative, and Stephen proves that to the reader through narration of his own experiences. What these stories help convey is that the situational context led him to solve problems, and that he isn't necessarily gifted and he didn't get all of his ideas from seminars, mentors, or other secretive sources. This is much easier to understand than an out-of-context list of tricks. Since the story is autobiographical, there is a flavor of "look what I did!" validation that exists in other books, but you can't blame the guy: he has a full and rich life, even without his money. This is something we should all hope for, and we'd all have the right to tell our story if we had done half of what he's done.
The main takeaway of the book (for me), is that the only way you can get into real estate is to START. The experiences from this author came to him because he inserted himself into a place where he was open to opportunity. He didn't get where he is because he went to seminars or read books (though he did plenty of both). He got where he is because he simply made his first leap and pulled it together as he learned. He managed properties for others before he managed his own. He saved up money and paid off his debts before he made purchases in mini storage facilities and low income housing. He learned about owner financing out of necessity when damages to his rentals were ruining his profits. He learned about selling notes when somebody sent him a letter offering to buy the notes he had created. He learned about financing deals with none of his own money by initiating an option to buy until he could find a way to make it happen (which he did). He got out of the note selling game in 2001 after 9/11, and hedged with his other investments to come out OK. With each new experience he leveraged his knowledge into new ideas and creativity to build his success. That's what the rest of us do in our jobs every day. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do this for ourselves as he has done? His story shows one way that it can be possible, and more importantly, it reveals the underlying qualities of character needed to make it happen.
After reading a lot of other books on this topic, this personal story helped me understand a lot more of the "how" by simply providing real examples with all of the doubt, fear, excitement, and emotion included.
As a final note, two crticisms: 1) there are lots of typos that slipped through proofreading. No biggie. 2) This story was published before the recent economic splat (it ends around 2007). I am still searching for a book like this that includes the last few years. I want to read a personal acocunt of how a real estate investor did well before 2008, took a punch in the gut, and got back up to do well in 2009, 2010, ... and beyond. It would be nice to know that there is still money to be made in real estate with another autobiographical story - blemishes and all. The book "How to Make Money in Real Estate in the New Economy" by Matt Martinez offers some information on this, but not with the same autobiographical flavor of Mitch Stephen.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
So much more than a book about entrepreneurship Nov 13, 2009
By T. Corbin
While I was inspired by the author's "out of the box" thinking and entrepreneurial tenacity, I was surprised at how entertaining and touching of a story he reveals in this book. We learn of Mitch's rural upbringing in Texas and ride along with he and his family through their journey of struggles, victories and their lives as decent hard working people. The themes run the gamut of family, love, joy, humor, depression, addiction, loss, human nature and the clear message that winning at business does not always mean getting the best of someone else. After reading this book it is hard not to walk away with an expanded perception of success and a renewed energy to go after your own goals.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Everybody Should this Book !!!!! Oct 11, 2009
By Jesse R. Navarro
I just finished My Life & 1000 Houses. The way it was written, It's like you are setting in a room with Mitch and he is telling you his Story. All of the stories have something we can all relate to in are life one time or another. The Highs and the Lows. This book was written from the heart and it shows. Money does not make a man great, It's what he has in his heart and soul.And the way he lives his life with humility. This is a GREAT Book. Thank You Mitch
Jesse Navarro
La Vernia, TX
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