Flipping

This book is a treasure. I think if I had to pack one bag of books for a long stay on a desert island, this would be one of the first ones included. Like one of the other reviewers, I have worn out more than one copy and find myself puzzled why it's been allowed to go out of print.

"The Great American Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Card Book" has three principal sections. The first, "Where Have You Gone VINCE DiMaggio" is a warm and very witty recollection of the co-author's childhoods in the 1950s and the central role that baseball cards played in them. Part two, "This Kid Is Going To Make It," is a look at how the baseball card business operated circa 1973, the date of the book's original publication.

As entertaining as these openers are, the best (and largest) part of the book is the one simply called "Profiles." Reproduced in full color are hundreds of cards from the early 1950s to the late 1960s, accompanied by the author's observations about the players immortalized on them. You'll find greats on these pages, like Richie Ashburn, Stan Musial and Ted Williams...but the real joy is the rediscovery of the men on the fringes of the game's glory...."immortals" like Chris Cannizzaro, Frank Leja, Foster Castleman, Clyde Kluttz and Coot Veal. It's tempting to quote from the book at length, but that would spoil the fun. Just to give you a sense of the flavor though, I opened at random to the page featuring Hector Lopez, poor-fielding third baseman for the Yankees and Kansas City A's. After judging Lopez not to be just a bad fielding third baseman for a baseball player, but for a human being, they declare, he did not "simply field a ground ball, he attacked it. Like a farmer trying to kill a snake with a stick."

This is a wonderful book for any baseball fan, and should especially be treasured on those short, cold winter days when the crack of the bat and the warm blue skies and green grass of summer seem oh-so-far away.--William C. Hall

Beautiful, brilliant and witty. Once you have the book, you'll never forget it, and you'll probably keep wanting to show parts of it to fellow fans. However, in the name of humor, the book is a little cruel to some players -- for example, "Hal Griggs was to pitching as Wayne Causey was to hitting -- that is to say, nothing." Even as a kid I was made uncomfortable by things like that. But, some of those things, I just LOVED, like the teasing about how ugly Don Mossi was and about how lousy a hitter Hank Aguirre was ("...I mean to tell you, he couldn't even come close..."). So, where should they have drawn the line? Heck if I know. Also, the book seems to show a bias toward players from Boston and Philadelphia, giving them more space than they deserve, and a lot more kindness. But actually I enjoyed that, since, as a New Yorker, I've always been embarrassed about the disproportionate attention that is usually given to the Yanks and Mets. It's nice to see a couple of other towns getting their turn.

This is a fantastic book! It took me back 40 years! What's actually great about this book is the interview with Sy Berger, the head of the Topps Sports Chewing Gum Department. It gives a brief history of Topps and reveals some information that can not be found today. What's even more precious about this book is that it helped me prove that one of the hobby's self-proclaimed experts doesn't know what he's talking about. A must have book!

There is a lot of sex, which will certainly appall some (but probably not those whose eyes are drawn to the hot Filipino on the cover!). The narrator's voice is so compelling that it's hard not to believe that it's autobiographical, but such a person probably wouldn't write, and Felipe is probably closer to what the author is really like. Or maybe Bantugan? If you can suspend judgement about the first narrator and deal with explicit sex, this is a very funny and ultimately moving first novel.

I like the fairy tales after each of the contemporary narrator's reflections on their sexual pasts. There is A LOT of sex in all four parts but it really does reveal the characters and their development.

The first narrator and main character is a Flip queen with some very backward notions about racial hierarchies. So backward that many readers may be to appalled to read on and see how he develops. Besides being VERY graphic he (and the book) are often very funny. For open-minded adults!

The book is well organized, with experiments and explanations that are simple enough to work with one or thirty kids (I teach 5th grade).

This is a great, fun suppliment to any curriculum you may already have.

At first glance, a book solely about the middle finger seems a bit overdone. A bit unnecessary. A bit...vulgar. But after second, third, and fourteenth glance, you'll find yourself on the floor with laughter. It's great as a party game, too, where you can flash pictures of famous celebrities flipping you off, and see who can do their best imitation. It's fun! Check it out!

this book changed my life! before i felt like i had a meaningless existance but now, after seeing celebrities flip me off, i feel sure that i do. actually, i really read this book for the articles. its analysis of the law and the middle finger was well researched and will doubtlessly affect the rulings of the courts for generations to come. buy this book! you won't be sorry

I bought this book when it first came out and have read it roughly seventeen times. Whenever I walk into someone's home and they do not have this book on their coffee table, I immediately flip them off in all the international variations I learned from THE FINGER. This book is simply that good.

The delights of THE FINGER begin with its cover, which is a hologram of some sort obviously developed by Lucasfilm Ltd. specifically for this application. The results of Lucasfilm's efforts are astounding: This is the only book in history that actually flips you off just for picking it up. You will probably spend a day just playing with the book and staring at its cover before you even crack it open.

But inside are 104 full-color pages of sheer joy. I won't spoil the book's pleasures for you here. Suffice it to say that everything you've heard is true.

I just received Flipping properties two days ago. The good news is that it is a very easy book to read and comprehend. I have already read it cover to cover twice. The book provides some excellent forms and is very good in defining basic Real Estate 101. It gives some good ideas and theories, Gee, it seems a lot of the reviews in RE are very generous.

I see some holes in the theory of "Flipping Properties". The major theme of Bronchick & Dahlstrom is to go out and find (or hire someone, " a scout") a distressed house with a motivated seller, make an offer, approximately 80% of the value of the home, Make a small deposit, ( $500-$1000) ,while promising the current owner they can close within a short period of time. Then, or concurrently, find an investor, ( retailer) to purchase the property and while giving yourself a profit.

This sounds good an very easy to do, but how many people or contacts would you or could you find to finance 80-100K? I am talking about the average person. The only suggestion is joining an investment club? And networking? Great, I am going to front money to trust people on the Internet? Also, even if you can flip the property, why would an investor continue to use your services on a double close? Lastly, the Flipper is required to have an exit strategy . The answer is if the investor backs out, then just purchase the property yourself. Great, I am sure I will get bank funding when I am already holding a note on my house for 300K! The book does not give enough info on how to finance, HUD, foreclosures, Etc, Also, the tiny little adds in newspapers doesn't sit well with me, as you will see.

Overall , the book is interesting, and I believe you can get an idea of the theories behind flipping properties but this book is not the total answer, I am going to take some of the info and combine it with info from other books and financial institutions.

Informative book, though slick as a dolphin's back. The biggest drawback, in my view, is that the strategy is based solely on distressed properties--the so-called motivated seller. The authors make this clear from the get-go, defining "distressed property" on page 3, and cautioning the reader throughout the book to deal only with motivated sellers.

This approach makes good sense, but it cuts out a world full of wonder: the physically sub-par house in the upscale neighborhood. Sellers in such places are seldom highly motivated, but who can deny that there are profits to be made there? Too, distressed properties are the domain of the giant wholesalers such as Homvesters,Inc., so you have very well financed competition.

I read all the way through just to see what the process was like in these sorts of transactions. Title problems in particular interested me since motivated sellers are apt to be up to their eyeballs in liens and judgements. On page 79 I found this information: "Even if the title report shows problems with the title, the contract is still in force if the seller can cure the problems before closing."

And if the seller can't, which is highly probable, since they acquired the problems and signed a contract to sell the house to get out of the problems? Well then the authors have 3 solutions for you, the buyer, and they all start with "Sue".

1. Sue for specific performance
2. Sue for damages
3. Sue for return of the earnest money

So unless you're a lawyer, which Bronchick is, you can kiss your prospective profits goodbye just prior to signing and sending a check to the lawyer of your choice. No one you see is smarter than he.

Not surprisingly, the authors recommend doing business as a corporation, since we "live in a litigious society...Eighty million lawsuits are filed every year." Scandalous. In addition, Bronchick and Dahlstrom provide timely and comic advice for keeping your marriage together as you make the transition to flipper: "If you are married, make sure your spouse reads this material with you and participates in the fun process of making money."

This book is a "step-by-step" guide through one of the very profitable and lucrative Real Estate investing principles. You'll get all the fundamentals needed to successfully complete your first flipping deal. You'll be on your way!

I've bought a lot of Bronchick's manuals through years and made hundreds of thousands of dollars with them. One of the first deals was an out-of-state seller whom I found using one of the advertising techniques suggested in the book. Since it was one of my first deals, I wasn't brave enough to undertake all the expensive repairs (it was a $500k house), so I decided to advertise to "investors-rehabbers". I used a classified add (like the one in the book) and within a week I sold it for $95,000 more than my purchase contract. That's about 3 weeks total that made me more money than I had been making as an electrical engineer with a Master of Science degree. You guessed right, soon after that I was able to leave my corporate job!

Please realize, the above transaction is not typical, most of my profits are in the range of $3,000 to $20,000, but again it doesn't take much to do a few of those a month either. You also need to know that this is not a "get rich quick" business, it takes time to learn it, but it is one of the most hassle free and most profitable businesses out there. And it's one of not many businesses you can start with very little or no money.

If you ask me why to buy this book, I'd tell you this. First, if you're just starting, this book will teach you about flipping properties, which is one of the easiest and risk-free (if you learn how) ways to make money in Real Estate, great place to start! Second, it teaches you in a methodical easy-to-learn way the mechanics of Real Estate transaction. Plus, it gives you all the legal paperwork and agreements you need (which are time tested and proven). And you can't beat the price -- it is soooo cheap!

Happy investing, and say to your boss bye-bye!!!

P.S. Almost forgot... Your relatives, neighbors and friends may tell you that "flipping" is illegal. What they are referring to is a scam where some investors together with appraisers defrauded lenders, and that has nothing to do with the concept described in this book. ...

His book on flipping properties is not nearly as good as his "The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings."

I really liked his first book, and when I saw this one on the bookshelf, I picked it up without hesitation. To my dismay, this book doesn't do its job getting a REI newbie off the starting blocks, and it definitely doesn't give any additional information to the flippers who have been in the business for a while.

My advice is to skim through this one while you are at the bookstore, and then put it back on the shelf.

I've read a half dozen or more books on flipping/rehabbing and none of the others come close to this one when it comes to financial analysis. Most authors focus on the "how to's" of flipping, which Berges does also, but he outshines all of them when it comes to analyzing real estate.

Berges walks the reader through using several examples in a financial model to help properly analyze an investment property . At the end of the analysis, if the returns are acceptable, you buy the property and if they are not, you pass on it and go on to the next one. No emotional attachments here. Buying and selling is done strictly on an analytical basis.

A lot of authors tend to focus on getting in to a deal for "nothing down" but say very little, if anything, about value. Just because you can buy a house for nothing down doesn't mean it's a good deal or that you should buy it. Out of all the real estate books I've read over the years, Berges is the only one to really emphasize value.

My guess is that Berges will lead the way among future writers by emphasizing value and financial analysis just like Robert Allen led the way with the nothing down techniques in the 80s and 90s.

Two thumbs up!

I've read most all of the books on flipping and rehabbing. This book is by far the best! The author uses many examples and provides step-by-step instructions that are easy for readers to follow. He also includes an entire chapter on how to actually find these properties which was really helpful to me. I was able to use this information to locate four houses over the last month and currently have one of them under contract.

I highly recommend this book to both beginning investors and to those who are more experienced as the author seems to have a knack for writing to a wide range of audiences. Great book!

Would not recommend for the novice investor. Lacks the guidance that is needed in the beginning of real estate investment. Not informative at all.

I picked this book up because I liked the title. House flipping for fun and profit. This is what I do for a living and have been very successful at it. I believe that you get what you pay for. $11.96 for the book and $11.96 worth of useful information, and that is being very generous. If my daughter hadn't accidentally spilled grape juice on the book, I would ask for my money back.

I found this book extremely helpful in getting started in real estate investment. It included helpful tips and the chapters flowed together in a comprehensive guide. Definitely worth the money. I have spent more $$ on other books that were nowhere near as helpful. I highly recommend this to other people who are interested in getting started in flipping properties. As you can tell from his successful real estate investing, he obviously practices what he preaches. This book isn't meant to be a complete guide to real estate investing. You need to do your own homework, too, which the other reviewers obviously have not done.