This book is about houses and homes and how to make a great deal of money by working with both. You might notice that I differentiate between the two; a home is a place where you live and raise a family, and a house is a building that you can invest in for a profit. This book will show you that they can be one and the same, but the two aspects must be considered differently. Starting with the house you own or would like to buy, you will find out how to make a lot of money over a lifetime. This is not a get rich quick pursuit. In addition, once you have seen and experienced that process, you will begin to consider the possibilities of working with your own home as well as other houses that you do not intend to live in. The combination of the two can make you rich enough to quit your day job.

Barbados 1956 Jenna White, thirty five, is a successful New York attorney. Overworked, frustrated, unfulfilled, and tired to the bone, she flies off to Barbados for a much needed break. Totally unaware that she will be caught up in a series of disastrous events resulting in greed, death, and the discovery of the love of her life, she starts to unwind. Enjoying herself for the first time in a decade, Jenna meets and spends time with a variety of attractive men; Ellis, a rich American playboy, Norman, a handsome Aussie derelict, and Quincy, a British charter boat captain. On a water skiing trip, Jenna unearths an old coin on Sandy Lane Beach. It turns out to be an old Spanish Doubloon, one of the infamous Pieces of Eight so often mentioned in connection with pirates of old who frequented the island hundreds of years ago. Innocently showing the coin to her new found water skiing friends at the beach bar, Jenna sets off an explosive chain of events that finds her group of water skiers setting out to locate a long lost treasure. Norman conspires with a crooked cop, ex SAS Sergeant Smythe-Caulley, to steal the treasure when it is found. Into the mix charges Quincy, also ex SAS, and the nemesis of Smythe-Caulley. He sweeps Jenna off her feet and champions her search. Greed quickly leads to murder when the small group finds a rotting chest of gold coins on the reef off Sandy Lane Beach. The confrontation between Jenna and Quincy, the hapless bystanders, and the murderous and vengeful Smythe-Caulley, culminates in a deadly showdown at the abandoned, but still elegant, Farley Hill Plantation House. Stuart Leland Rider lived in the tropics from 1946 to 1960. He spent most of those years, on and off, living on the island of Barbados.

From Dirt To Dollars provides detailed tour the profitable process of Real Estate Development, with a healthy emphasis on why developers do what they do, and why they do it the way they do it. It is a step-by-step guide for the beginner, and a reality check for specialized professionals in the field, providing the unique perspective of a successful developer's point of view. It reveals the methodology of minimizing the risk, and maximizing the returns when acquiring and/or developing commercial property. It will also enhance the existing professional's tools for working with, and for, a developer. From Dirt To Dollars is designed to offer insight into the rationale behind the Development process, as well as provide insight into the valuation of Investment Real Estate. It provides the tools and the philosophy with which to develop Commercial Real Estate, as well as tools to evaluate a commercial property for purchase. What sets this book apart is not its considerable technical detail, but the insight offered into the decision making process. It informs the reader, not only how to proceed, but why the actions recommended are designed to limit risk and insure the success of any project. It spells out for the potential Developer and Investor alike, the many skills, alliances, accommodations, checks and balances, required of a successful professional Real Estate Entrepreneur.

Fixer Uppers is a step by step guide to revitalizing older real estate. It covers both residential and commercial properties, dealing with both economic and physical obsolescence.

Investing your money and time in real estate is not reinventing the wheel, nor does it take incredible insight or great intelligence. Like anything else in this world, it just takes a little hard work, some common sense, and an ability to stay focused and see it through. Real estate has several advantages that other commodities do not have: It is a finite commodity. It is location-exclusive, as each parcel is immovable, and it comes complete with tax shelter designed to enhance your return on investment. This cannot be said for stocks, bonds, debt instruments, or any other form of investment that I am aware of. Absolutely nothing you will learn in this book is a secret, and there is no inside information offered here. Everything you need to know you can find out. What you cannot do yourself, you can hire to be done at a reasonable price. This book is designed to organize your approach, and to stimulate you into creating your own system for your own style of investing. Every single day of your life you are surrounded by someone else's real estate investments; if they can do it, why not you? You are, after all, as smart as the next guy, aren't you? Just reading this book will put you light-years ahead of the people who do not read it. The beauty of real estate is that there is something for everyone. The variety is endless, and you will, most likely, add to that variety. One advantage of starting out fresh is that you come to it with few preconceived notions. Do what makes the most sense to you. Chances are that your first hunch will be correct.