Finally … a real estate investing book that doesn’t ramble on about 10x and “building empires” (whatever that means)!
I had the pleasure to receive a copy of Chad Carson’s new book: The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor before it came out. As soon as I read it, I immediately recognized that it was an important message that needed to be heard. Now, the book is available on Amazon, Bigger Pockets and Audible.
Why Read the Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor?
You know that feeling when you believe something deep down but you can’t articulate it into words?
And then you read a book that expresses that same belief in plain English and it resonates with you immediately? That’s what the first part of The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor was for me.
There are many reasons why you should read this book. Different reasons might appeal to different investors depending on where you are in your investing journey.
But for me, the principal reason to read this book is the crucial shift in mindset that it offers right out of the gate.
In Part 1 of the book, Chad Carson comes out swinging with The Small and Mighty Manifesto. It’s the constitution for the real estate investor that prioritizes their freedom over money or ego metrics like number of doors owed. This section of the book validates the belief that so many investors like us hold that your real estate portfolio should serve the life you want to live and not the other way around.
According to Carson, the currencies of a good life are money, time, mobility and flexibility and the task of the intelligent real estate investor is to strike the right balance between those currencies. This philosophy is very reminiscent of Thoreaus’ famous line: “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it”.
Once the author has laid this general foundation he goes deeper with the 7 Rules of the Small And Mighty Real Estate Investor. Rules #1, 6 and 7 especially resonated with me.
- Rule#1: Life First, Business Second. Freedom is more important than Money
- Rule #6: Don’t defer life. Don’t fall into the “I’ll be happy when…” Trap
- Rule #7: Measure success differently. Focus on intrinsic motivations.
Last, Carson ends Part 1 with a strategic overview of how a small and mighty investor can achieve financial freedom: “The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor (SAMREI) owns the minimum number of investments to accomplish his financial goals.” This is a full departure from the rah rah 10x crowd who maximizes the number of investments regardless of how it affects your life.
According to the author every investor should come up with his Financial Independence (FI) number under a Lean (Basics), Regular (Basics + Nice to Haves) and Fat (Basics, Nice to Haves, Luxury). Then determine the minimum number of properties they need to own to achieve each one.
The Journey of the SAMREI
In Part 2, the author starts to set the reader up for the tactical “how to” part of the book with an overview of the journey that small and mighty real estate investors go through in their investing life.
The journey can be split into 3 distinct phases:
- Starter (Beginner, Get Started)
- Builder (Intermediate to Advanced, Build Wealth)
- Ender (Advanced, Finish up and Enjoy Benefits)
Carson wraps up this overview with specific strategies that an investor can employ during each phase to achieve their goals depending on available resources.
Time to Execute – A Tactical Masterclass
Do you know those books that wax poetic about intellectual strategies you can use but leave you high and dry when it comes to implementation? The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor is definitely NOT one of those books!
Starting in Part 3 and through Part 5, Chad Carson puts on a masterclass on tactical execution. Among other things, he teaches you in great detail:
- How to build your real estate team
- How to choose the best locations for your investments
- What makes a great real estate investment
- How to run numbers on a prospective investment property both quickly and in detail
- How to find good deals, negotiate like a pro and get your offer accepted
- How to properly do due-diligence
- Types of real estate financing and how to fund your real estate purchases
- Creative financing strategies if you don’t have a lot of cash
- How to operate your real estate portfolio and manage your properties
- How to build systems and automate your rental property business
Get your notebook ready because in the words of Yosemite Sam “there’s gold in them thar hills”.
On Ending the Game Well
Part 6 of the book is all about ending the game well. The key is not to get caught up in playing the game but remembering why you started playing in the first place. “When you’ve built enough wealth to secure financial independence”, stop playing. You have won.
Instead of building up more assets, more doors and therefore more complexity and more hassle, reposition your portfolio for lower risk and more income. This could mean “pruning your portfolio” and getting rid of the underperforming dead wood, selling some properties to pay off others or paying off your entire portfolio. The author goes through some tactics on how you can decide what makes the most sense for you in your Ender Phase.
In Conclusion
The Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor is a book for the investor who is optimizing for financial independence, freedom and simplicity. First and foremost, you should buy it because it does an excellent job of laying the foundational case for minimizing your portfolio to the smallest size that will allow you to reach your financial goals. Then, once you’ve bought into this mindset change, the book provides you with an excellent tactical roadmap about how to execute each element of this strategy from financing to property management, deal selection and due diligence. The real estate investing book landscape was missing this book and I think Chad Carson has hit the nail in the head with this one.
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