Also, I wasn’t knocking anyone trying to improve themselves. That too is exactly what I am trying to do. I was simply wanting the whole story, and yes, I will read the book, but don’t think that a little bit of questioning and a desire for accurate information (and a little bit of cheekiness along the way) amount to knocking.

So, Junkers, I hope that clears that up. I must say, I am very interested to know about how you go about securing a loan and a house with only $1000 down.

Thanks Steve for clearing up that bit about question one. That was pretty much the crux of what I was getting at – how did they get their “skin in the deal” in the first place. In their case, they borrowed 20% from family members. Getting “educated” as wilandel suggested wouldn’t have helped me guess that unfortunately, and to re-iterate I was not attempting to pour cold water, more to just cut through fluff to discover solidity and substance. In property investing, though I am new to it, I would assume that relying on fluff would be costly, whereas betting on the basis of solidity and substance would not.

What TT suggested and implied through their story was that Steve pretty much took a group of near bankrupts and those just treading water and transformed them into money printing machines. My queries are not levelled at Steve or the methods he uses but at the truth behind the vague headlines from TT, and when all is said and done had that particular mapper who was 400K in debt not borrowed from family he wouldn’t have his portfolio now. TT presented it as though these people were given free holy grails to drink deeply from, and it is not Steve’s fault that they present information this way, but it is perhaps the duty of the more diligent to search for the reality through the smoke.

Thanks for the responses though all, a most pleasing first debate began for this new investor.

Oh yeah and Wilandel don’t assume I’m not educated, whether generally or about this.

I love journalism, especially the nightly current affairs type. So rich, so full in detail and analysis, so quick and ready with figures and costs and breakdowns….. NOT!!!

I have a few queries, forgive me if some of them seem obvious, but I am new here:

1 – Assuming that these people (in particular Mr $400K in debt man) did not borrow 110% of their purchase price, how did they come up with the initial finance for deposits? The guy with 750,000 worth of property for example, the softly spoken “quality of life” one, did he have 10% or even just 5% of that 750,000 before he began? Lending institutions don’t lend if you don’t have any “skin in the deal”, and this is often the biggest hurdle to acquiring multiple properties quickly, so if these people (again, especially Mr 400K in debt man) didn’t have these funds up front, how did they acquire them? And if Mr. 400K in debt man did have 100,000 or whatever in cash, then he’s not really 400k in debt is he?

2 – Was their income (you know, the bit at the start of the story when they stood in front of the camera and said in their best dorky impersonation “My gross income was 142,000”) inclusive of whatever their wage was in their everyday life or was this their investment income alone?

3 – Is Steve McKnight really that nerdy? (j/k)