In learning how you are going to get rich, you must be careful to avoid negativeness. I have been asked to start many men and women along my path of success. But I have noticed that if they were at all negative, it showed up fairly early. Perhaps the psychologists would analyze this as a secret but real desire on the part of the subject NOT to get rich but to continue to wallow in mediocrity.

We are considering the type of real estate investment that improves with time, so we must quickly and permanently reject any crepehangers who say it's too late now. I've heard it literally hundreds of times, usually followed by "you bought at the right time. There's no such good buys now." While I was learning what not to buy, I learned something that was most significant at the same time. I learned not to be afraid. It was a most important change in my thinking.

When the real estate investment field held many mysteries that I did not understand, I had the usual fear of the unknown, of the things that might hurt me. But with knowledge and experience comes confidence and fear fades. You, too, will soon experience the same thing. You will examine, evaluate, and decide yes or no. After a little experience, you will not be afraid.

Let us choose a typical case among those whose fortunes I've guided. We will study one which has most of the action taking place in 1959, to confound those whose plaint is about this not being the right time.

About two years ago, Ed R. came to one of my classes in Real Estate Investment. He had a driving force behind him. He wanted to leave a killing job he held as an executive in a large firm. He was not negative. Just as most others have done, he asked me the standard question: "Bob, are you sure it's not too late? So many of my relatives and friends insist that the time for buying properties at good prices and with good returns is all over." I told him my standard answer and he decided to go ahead.

True, Ed R. had some money saved, and he was able to accelerate the process much more than one who starts with one to two thousand dollars. But his case still proves that it is never too late. As he acquired each three-decker or six-family property he put it in order and started the flow of income. Ed did not drain income for living expenses. It was not long before the accumulated income showed a balance of $1,500 or so and he bought another. Today, as I write this, about two years after he started, Ed has some 82 tenants. The income grosses some $6,000 per month, and every tenant heats his own quarters. There are no janitors. I am not at liberty to disclose (he is my legal client) the exact net to Ed, but it is obvious what is being paid off on mortgages. Paid off, by whom? By the tenants! Sure, that's what we started out by saying - this is a wonderful business!

The net cash in hand leaves him in a position to take advantage of any new buys that come along - out of his profits. That's what may be termed the pleasantest kind of pyramiding. Because, let me emphasize this, Ed has almost never bought a building in which he was required to invest much more than $1,500.

In almost every case, the bank loaned some 80 per cent of the purchase price, the seller took back a second mortgage for perhaps 10 per cent and Ed put the remaining 10 per cent down in cash. In a few more years the second mortgages will be paid off and the amount cleared each month will rise substantially.

There is truth in my statement that there is still plenty of room. Do not hold back.