Real Estate Note Investing: Using Mortgage Notes to Passively and Massively Increase Your Income

OK, call me jaded, but it seems as if there are way too many books like this out nowadays. The kind that, while marketed as a book that's going to give you some practical nuts-and-bolts information you can put to work right away, serves mainly to plug the author's current venture. And, as agreeable as Dave van Horn seems as a writer, that's what this book seems like to me. Many chapters recount Dave's history as a real estate investor and lessons learned, which is OK as far as it goes. I will say that the book is written fairly well, and there are minimal grammatical gaffes. However, it seems as if the main point of the book is to set up the reader for an introduction to Dave's current business, which allows investors to buy notes from his note funds. Even this limited goal would be a service to readers, except that in order to invest in Dave's note funds, you have to be an accredited investor, a requirement that imposes income/asset tests that most investors don't meet. So ultimately, I can't give this book a very good rating. I gave it two stars instead of one because it does read well and, as I said, the author seems an agreeable type.

The author assumes that his readers are already familiar with all the terms involved in real estate investing, and therefore does not provide much in the way of definitions or explanations. For me, as a newcomer to most of the concepts, it was a one-star experience, but I added a star because I'm sure there are those out there who already have sufficient knowledge to get some value from it. This star's for you folks. If you're a beginner, be prepared to do some term searching and outside reading to know what he's talking about in some of his explanations.An example from page 102 under "Lease Options": The author's example is of a two-year lease option that "included a non-refundable option deposit (not the same as a security deposit) for $5,800." So we at least now know that a lease option is not a security deposit, but the text contains no other explanation. The entry in the glossary at the back provides only a little more information than the text.In the next sentence we learn that the author "was receiving top-of-the-market rent for $1,750/month, with a rent credit of $200/month, and a seller assist of 3 percent of the sales price."If anyone is wondering what a "rent credit" or "seller assist" is, like I was, you can just keep on wondering because there is again no explanation in the text. There is a very brief sentence on "seller assist" in the minimally helpful glossary, but no entry for "rent credit."I'm sure a lot of people already know the meaning of these and many other terms the author throws around. For the rest of us it's just too bad. I'm left with the impression that if I knew enough to fully understand the book, I wouldn't need the book.

Purchased this book to learn about note investing. Had to read through two thirds of the book before reaching to topic of notes. Mr. Van Horn is obviously a highly skilled and experienced real estate investor and entrepreneur. I appreciated all the information and stories he shared. A decent general real estate book but a bit disappointing with regards to note investing. Did not deliver to my expectations.

I agree with a previous reviewer, the majority of this 200 page book is an autobiography of one individual's journey through real estate investing. The early stories of using credit cards to invest in real estate is somewhat interesting, but not practical in today's time. As far as the title of the book, Note Investing, the author does not begin to discuss the topic until page 139.Overall, the book is not very practical and not written well. It rambles on, becomes redundant, and fails to offer concrete & practical tips for real estate investors looking to find a new market.

Ugh. This was a painful read despite being pretty short. Having read other BiggerPockets books, I had hoped this would be just as good. It wasn't. Instead of following the pattern found in the other BiggerPockets books I read where topics are clearly laid out with sub-topics within, steps to take are listed, and sources of further information defined, the author fills nearly the whole of the 200 pages with his life story. He literally spends more than half the book telling us about his real estate career and all of the tricks he used to fund them which are no longer options today before getting around to the subject of the book. The useful information is at the end.I suspect that he's emulating Kiyosaki's Rich Dad books, due to their popularity, but those ramble and repeat themselves. Even Kiyosaki admits to being a poor writer. By contrast, the anecdotes in Brandon Turner's "Rental Property Investing" are short and to the point and in total take less than 10% of the pages or so. The other book I bought on this topic, "Paper Profits", was shorter, but had more information. It wasn't perfect, but I haven't found the one on this subject that is yet. That said, this book was better than "How to Buy Real Estate for 40% Off: Break Into the Secret World of Note Investing" which was one of those pamphlet sales pitch "books", which should get 0 stars. Fortunately, I borrowed my friend's since he was tossing it in the trash, which saved me that purchase mistake.In any case, since the author did eventually get around to talking about the subject, the book gets two stars.