Steve McKnight, the author and founder of PropertyInvesting.com, is an Australian investor. I picked up his ‘sequel’ to this book on my travels. Confusingly, the book that I read was called “From 0 to 230+ Properties in 7 Years” (and is not available in the UK, where I live and invest) but “From 0 to 130 Properties in 3.5 Years was updated in 2010, so this is the one to read.
The book is split into five sections, with a number of chapters in each:
- Making a start. Explores the ‘whys’ of property investment and helps you shape the mindset necessary for success and pinpoint your individual ‘whys’.
- A Recipe for Disaster. Explains the two types of debt: bad and worse. Details the property market cycle and helps you identify which part of the cycle the market is in today (and what to do to profit from it).
- Real Estate ‘Steve Style. Building a massive portfolio from the ground up. How to evaluate deals the easy way.
- Deal Time. Case studies of successful deals.
- What Next? Your step-by-step implementation plan.
Australian Property Investment Terminology
The books Australian origins means that you’ll be working in AUD$ and some of the terminology and methods might need reinterpretation inside your head. For instance, ‘subdividing plots’ might mean splitting land vertically (i.e. buying a property and building another in its garden) or horizontally (i.e. converting a two storey building into flats).
This book is not very well known outside Australia, but I can wholeheartedly recommend it.