The Noteworthy News on Richards’ Real Estate Investing Publications and More
YOOO! how’s it going?
I’m glad you found your way to my real estate guru review site. Nice to have you stop by!
Before we jump into the review, I’d like to ask you a question.
Why are you here? I mean, other than the obvious–that you’re looking for the scoop on Jon Richards, or on his products.
Are you checking out income stream possibilities? Looking for something that’ll get you financial freedom? Sick of the 9-5 grind and needing something silky new?
I get all that, totally.
That was me, a few years ago. I jumped into real estate investing like a base jumper on a keg of Red Bull. I wanted financial freedom! And baby, I was sure that was the way to go.
That is until it all fell apart and I LOST ALL MY PROPERTIES AND THEN SOME.
-It was a hard way to learn that when we play with risk, it can bite us in the ass.
Then I met a guy named James, and he introduced me to a path toward financial freedom that had a whole lot less risk than real estate with as much if not more profit potential.
So I’m being straight up here. I’ll never diss real estate investing as a livelihood.It’s a respectable way to make a good living.
But having said that, I want to tell you that there’s another way. (I promise, we’ll get to the Jon Richard’s review in a sec.)
I RECOMMEND you to watch the video below. It’s only three minutes long. Watch it and see why James’s different.
After you watch the video, you can get back to the Jon Richards review. Cuz I know that’s what you really came for.
And now, while you think about what you just watched, here’s the review. . . .
Jon Richards Bio and Background
Jon Richards (who died in 2003) was a licensed real estate broker with the smarts about discounted notes and mortgages.
He founded The Noteworthy Newsletter, now in its 28th year providing information and education to real estate brokers, note brokers and investors. Now it claims to be the largest newsletter in the note investing industry and a pioneer in the use of financial models to determine actual value over time of real estate and note investments.
Books
Richards also developed home-study courses and wrote books on subjects such as The Truth About the Note Business, 99 Good Ideas for Finding Notes, and How to Start a Discounted Note Business.
Richards wrote other books as well, including Real-Estate 101: Income Property Investing and Calculator Power. In addition to these publications, he wrote articles for real estate magazines and journals on topics ranging from finding and brokering mortgages to appraising and discounted notes.
Software
He was president of Noteworthy Investments, Inc., a multi-million-dollar real estate company, and in that context he developed Note Recaster and Note Quoter. These were both software programs for use in the discounted note industry. Note Quoter enables an investor to create note purchase offers automatically.
Note investing is complex, Richards said. It’s not for the beginner or the newbie and should be entered cautiously. He warned that his note-investing courses did not contain entry-level material for beginners.
The book How to Start a Profitable Note Business is all about buying and selling discounted notes. It covers topics such as:
- finding discounted notes
- using direct mail to find notes
- sample letters to use in direct mail campaigns
- developing sources of referrals
- understanding the time value of money
I spent some time looking for Richards’ products to see if any are actually still on the market. I found several at the Noteworthy Newsletter products page: The NoteHolder’s Handbook ($39.95); How To Start a Discounted Note Business ($295); Calculator Power ($39.95); More Calculator Power ($29.95).
I found a few of his books on Amazon at pretty inflated prices. A bit more digging might turn up some used copies elsewhere (eBay, for example).
In the area of discounted note investing, Jon Richards made an impact on the world in the educational materials he wrote and left behind. However, it’s unclear if his material is timeless in its application or if components of it are outdated.
SUMMARY
So that’s my review. To summarize, Richards was a guy who was definitely respected in his industry. You can tell that by independent reviewer comments that still give his work the nod.
And also by the fact that ten years after his death, the newsletter he founded is still selling his stuff . . . i.e. a million people haven’t swarmed in to update his material and sell it for themselves.
I don’t know how much note investing changes according to financial cycles, so I can’t speak to the currency of his materials. Regardless of that, there seems to be ongoing value in his products.
Good luck! And if you skipped the video, please go back and watch it.
Thanks for stopping by.
