Back in 2003-04, I interviewed hundreds of real estate investors across America for my book, “What No One Ever Tells You about Investing in Real Estate.” I asked investors to describe their most entertaining and educational investment lessons. Once we got into them, some were real doozies. But our discussions usually started with a discussion of how they had wound up in real estate.

A large number of real estate investors started out as “accidental” investors. Time and again, they told me that they wound up investing because they had to rent out a house they couldn’t sell (because of recessions, et cetera). A large number of those investors and others had also been bitten by the investment bug. They had taken a class, bought a system like Carleton Sheets’, or simply read a book and that launched their new / alternative careers.

I like John T. Reed’s guru ratings but I have also noticed that he doesn’t sell his books on Amazon.com or any third-party site that would offer us neutral reviews of his works. He seems to be a good BS detector but who knows about his own investment prowess? Despite the fact that an inordinate number of my family members are real estate agents, investors, or professionals, just before I started investing, I took Robert Shemin’s boot camp in Nashville. Reed is neutral on Shemin. I liked Shemin so much though that I asked him to write the Foreword for my real estate book.

Shemin taught me the most important thing that I’ve ever learned about the real estate gurus and guides out there: leverage is key. Financial leverage is important for real estate, of course, but I’m talking about the leverage of knowledge. If you take a class, buy a program, or read a book that gives you just one new and useful idea, then real estate has the power to repay your investment many times. So, take the classes, buy the systems, and read on…learn, live, and prosper!