I will assume you are a small investor, and that you have only $1,000 to $1,500 to invest. If you have more you can speed the process and get started quicker, pyramid more quickly, and reach your goal sooner. But you cannot improve on the method unless you have phenomenal luck - and we're not planning on that. Our method is based on a universal public need for one of the essentials of life and our ability to supply it at a good profit. Luck has little to do with it. This universal need is housing.



Wherever you live in the United States, you are likely to have near you some rental units. This may take the form of duplexes, row houses a la Philadelphia, or apartment buildings.

You may find workingmen's housing in your area in any one of the dozen forms. But you can be sure it is there, and you will find that the directions here will guide you in appraising it and buying it.

In San Francisco there are many row houses, with one or two units to each house.

In Montreal and Quebec, the frugal French have divided their own houses that front on the street, many even putting the staircases outdoors to utilize inside space more efficiently, and then they have built an additional house, and sometimes two, on the land in back of the house - for income.

In New Orleans there are other versions. A lot is split down the center with an alley, on which several units front. Thus four, eight and often 12 or more units may be rented out on the one lot.

New Mexico has the one-story Spanish-style three-to-six apartment rows, and some have added a second story for additional units.

Baltimore and Philadelphia have the small single units, wall-to-wall, in rows, often divided into two units to a house. North Carolina has these too, and several other versions of workingmen's housing. There are some row houses in New Jersey too, but many others take the form of free-standing three-family blocks.

In Oklahoma the owner often lives in the front house, and has divided his garage into two units. Some even add a second story to the garage for additional income.

Arizona has the adobe-type four-family arrangement, sometimes remodeled from a large garage.

Detroit has the large multiple-unit apartment house in many sizes and varieties. In St. Louis two two-family units are paired.

Let us examine the investment of a three-family with an eye on the fact that those that now exist will be the last of their kind. That is very important. It means that we will never have competition from any new units of the type we have.

Such competition for the consumer's shelter dollar as we will have will be limited to other fields, such as the desire to own a single house, the desire of the tenant to own his own three-decker and collect rent instead of paying it out, and such improvement in the tenant's circumstances as move him to raise his living quarters' standards as his economic status improves. All three are negligible.

For one thing, a half-century of broad experience shows clearly that as a class, the three-family tenant remains one for decades, until death or some other drastic family upheaval dislodges him. Even then, in most cases, the married son or daughter, and in many cases the widow herself, continues on as a tenant indefinitely and the flow of income to the owner remains uninterrupted. If we were to attempt to analyze why this particular genus of tenant, above all other types, seems to stay "forever" in one flat, we will find many reasons.

Thus the rental property whether in the form of a three-family or its equivalent in the various parts of the country, is unique. As such, we should set our sights to acquiring as many of them as possible. This is the first and most profitable piece of real estate you should acquire.