Landlording on Auto-Pilot: A Simple, No-Brainer System ... (ISBN 047178978X)

very little substance:
This book was a big disappointment and I am not sure how it got so many positive reviews. I could tell from the beginning that the author was not that intelligent and that the book was not well written and catered to a blue collar, non-educated audience. Still, I gave the author the benefit of the doubt and kept reading hoping to find some morsel of time saving advice as I have 5 kids and 4 rental properties and a very busy life. The book discusses much in generalities and more than half the book talks about problems with rentals and does not give any solutions to the problems outlined. I will give one example of the stupidity in this book: It says that everything in a rental should last at least 5 years so that your tenant should have to be responsible for repairs for the first 5 years of his tenancy. Duh, did it occur to the writer that my rental may have a well functioning 10 year old washing machine that might konk out the first year my tenant moves in? Does he mean to imply that I should replace everything that is functioning well so that I can then tell the tenant it is your fault it broke. This is just absurd. Another bad advice he gives is to let prospective tenants check out a key and go see the property themselves so as to save time. Although this may indeed save time you are losing in two ways by doing this: 1) You are losing a valuable opportunity to meet the tenants in person before you process the application and see what kind of people they are 2) you are losing a valuable opportunity to sell the benefits of your property. I frequently can alleviate concerns my tenants have and anwer questions that will make them more likely to take my rental. For example, you can tell them the neighborhood is safe, or that there is a great park across the street if you see they have kids, or can point out that the new deck is maintenance and splinter free. You are losing a great opportunity to gain a tenant. Lastly, whatever is of value in this book could probably be condensed into one chapter instead of all the hype and no real suggestions. I must add that the author also ignores completely using real estate agents to get tenants or look for properties. Although it can sometimes be costly, it is certainly better than having a rental vacant for 6 months. This option should at least be mentioned in all his long talk about ways to get tenants. I am a graduate of Yale Law School and take my advice, this book is written catering to a very low level audience. The author throws fancy words around to make himself seem sophisticated instead of actually giving a shred of real information. P.S. Two things I have found of GREAT help are:1)Quicken Rental Property Manager which is a software to keep track of rental expenses and income (very easy to use and well worth the cost, I think it even has a money back guarantee) and 2) Nolo's "Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide" by Stephen Fishman which is ESSENTIAL and excellent for any landlord.

OK book not great i'd give it 2 stars...:
Book was ok from a way he does things for himself but it is the way he use to do things as he does not do them anymore so now with technology changing it may no longer be useful, like old way technology such as using pagers also he does go overboard on his marketing type "A" for all he wants to do is look for ways to charge you more money if he can just check out his website. Basically, he is looking to capitalize on money schemes, as like others who posted, the book says you get free forms thru his web site, don't count on it he charges you, they are not free, and the forms he gives in the book he charges you on his web site even though it says free, he has to charge you seven dollars or more just to get the free ones you don't have. So not really free. Good marketing tactic though. Also he does have some questionable contradicting items, an example in his book, he says why not have a 36 month lease. Makes sense but then later in the book he says you should be charging an annual increase in rent to keep up with higher taxes, increased expenses, ect.. you can not raise your rents on a lease that is locked in for 36 months. There are other items but I won't go into detail not worth my time to type them all out. I give him credit for his pushing for your money and does a job at that. Just check out his website first before you buy the book you'll see $$. A lot of this information that he is telling you is common knowledge, but at least he credits the people who work for him. It wasn't a bad read but not on my top 10 books. All common sense items that you could figure out on your own, he does a good job of explaining his way of doing things in the book, Do yourself a favor go to the library to read first and save yourself $ in your pocket if you like it then buy the book.

A 10 STAR IF YOU ASK ME!!!:
I would give this book a 10 star if I could. I have been managing single-family homes for almost a decade. After reading this book I feel stronger than ever as a property manager in terms of my system and the forms I use. Very hands-on street level information about exactly how to run a first class business. No BS... BUY IT NOW!!!

Landlording on Autopilot:
Excellent reference with some great ideas about managing rental properties. Mike's book has some great information that you will not find in other rental management books. I use it extensively.

A must have - particularly great for beginners:
My wife and I recently acquired our first property and I immediately purchased books (with good Amazon reviews of course) to help educate myself. This book has given me great advice for our single property, but I can see how valuable the practical "real world" experiences of the author would (maybe will?) be for the larger investor who wants to establish rentals as a business. I would highly recommend this for any first time landlords (but don't call yourself that if you can help it!) :-)