Book Review: My Life & 1000 Houses by Mitch Stephen

Posted In Books I Recommend, Inspiration | 18 comments

Last week I finished reading my 24th book of the year….phew! My goal of reading 2-3 books each month is going really well.  I keep a running list of the books I want to read and interestingly enough, today’s review is for a book that was not on the list, written by a first time author I was unfamiliar with, and yet is one of my favorite reads of this year!


I met Mitch Stephen, author of My Life & 1000 Houses on Facebook.  I checked out his website 1000Houses.com and found the book title intriguing so I asked Mitch for a copy to review for my blog and he kindly agreed.  When the book arrived I thought to myself “Wow, this looks really long…I sure hope its good or its going to take forever to finish (if I finish it at all)!”  Even at 400 pages, I read this book in 3 sittings.  In fact it was such an engaging story that I could’ve finished it all in 24 hours but I wanted to ensure that I ate, slept, got some work done, and spent time with my family!

My Life & 1000 Houses, as you likely figured out by the title, is an autobiography.  It details the life of Mitch Stephen, a very successful real estate entrepreneur from San Antonio, Texas who has purchased more than a thousand properties over the past 10 years. Do you think maybe he knows a little something about how to achieve financial freedom and perhaps a little bit about real estate? LOL!  Yep, he does.

Three things I absolutely love about this book:

  1. It is a phenomenal story of Mitch’s personal and business life — the good, the not so good, and the downright ugly
  2. It provides a number of practical business and real estate investing tips and strategies
  3. Mitch used the last ~150 pages of the book to share the most hilarious, sad, and inspiring stories from his real estate adventures

One other thing that is unique about Mitch’s book is that it includes lyrics to songs he’s written throughout the book in a really creative and effective way (oh yes, he’s an award-winning musician and songwriter too!).

I asked Mitch for an interview so we could talk about his book…why he wrote it, his thoughts on mindset and financial freedom, and what he’s learned throughout his real estate investing adventures (which are plentiful).  Rather than reading my Cliffs Notes this time, you’ll get a chance to hear straight from the source!

Check out my interview with Mitch Stephen by clicking on the icon below!

I hope enjoy the interview!  If you’re interested in purchasing this book, head on over to MitchStephen.com or 1000Houses.com and grab a copy.  Mitch has offered to provide an autographed copy plus a complimentary copy of the soundtrack CD  to all of you. After you purchase, be sure to send Mitch an email at mitch@mitchstephen.com to let him know that you heard about his book from GoodFaithInvesting.com and you’ll get this bonus with your purchase, ok?

I’ll leave you with some of Mitch’s words of wisdom from the book:

  • The learning is in the living.
  • There is no easy money for anyone. Period!
  • If we are limited in any way it’s because the message we are sending ourselves is wrong. Change your self talk and you will change your life!
  • Every bad business move that doesn’t break us makes us smarter.
  • Success seems to loom just barely beyond the gut-wrenching struggle.
  • If you’re going to make a mistake, make it going full speed.
  • Any percentage of something is better than 100% of nothing. You can’t go broke making a profit.
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  5. For all of you book lovers!

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Leave A Reply (18 comments So Far)

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  1. Esi
    646 days ago

    You did a great job for your first interview. I can’t wait to listen to the CD, thanks for sharing. By the way, does the 1000 houses include apartment building units, or are they all single family unit? 100 houses a year? Wow! that’s a lot of houses. This has got me rethinking my goals.


  2. Mitch Stephen
    646 days ago

    I have been investing for over 15 years. I have not bought any apartment complexes that I can remember so they couldn’t have had very many units. May a 4plex ore some duplexes but not apartment complexes. Even if a did by an apartment complex it would count as “One Property.” I do include mobile homes… “I’ve bought over 140 Mobile Homes (boxes only)… and lots, although I have not bought that many lots – maybe 40????? I have actually bought well over 1,000 properties, but who’s counting? i also count assignments of contracts…maybe 100??? I really don’t remember. i just counted the files in my mini storage unit I used to have that held all the old files.

    Mitch Stehen
    Author, MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES
    http://www.1000Houses.com
    FIRST 100 PAGES FREE


  3. Mitch Stephen
    646 days ago

    For the record; If I had it to do over again I would not buy 1,000 houses. I buy 5 to 10 complete home runs per year and have more time and balance in my life…and probably make more money to boot.

    Mitch Stephen
    Author, MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES
    http://www.1000Houses.com


  4. Shae
    646 days ago

    @Esi, thanks! Glad you enjoyed the interview!

    @Mitch, I think your second point is *really* important for people to hear…the fact that you’d focus on 5-10 homeruns a year to have more balance. Thanks a million for the interview – it was great!


  5. AnotherSteph
    646 days ago

    Shae,

    I downloaded your interview for my iPod…I cannot wait to listen! I love business/how-to books, especially those about real estate. I hadn’t heard about this one, so I cannot wait to check it out!

    Steph


  6. Shae
    646 days ago

    Great Steph, enjoy!


  7. Bilgefisher
    646 days ago

    Shae,

    I am looking forward to listening to the interview and book. Sounds very interesting.

    Mitch,
    I appreciate you doing the interview.

    Jason


  8. mobilehomegurl
    646 days ago

    Wow, Shae! I cannot believe you’ve read 24 books already this year, you really should get an award for best book reader and reviewer! :)

    Thanks for sharing this book review, the name sounds really catchy. I’m looking forward to checking out the interview!

    p.s. I think doing an audio interview is pretty cool. I’m getting into audio lately, been listening to more audio books while driving on the road! :)


  9. Shae
    646 days ago

    @Jason, come back and let me know your thoughts once you listen! You always have something awesome to say ;-)

    @Rachel, yeah I can’t really believe it either. I didn’t realize it until I was writing this post that it was my 24th book! Fortunately many of the books aren’t that long ;-)

    I’ve been spending much more time on the road since leaving my job so I’m listening to more audio too. The only problem is that I love to highlight really good stuff in books so I can go back and just read the highlights at a later date…can’t do that with audio. However…motivational and instructional CDs work well for me while driving!


  10. Peter Giardini
    645 days ago

    Shae,

    Thank you for bringing this post and great book to my attention. I will be sure to listen to the interview…

    Mitch sounds like my kind of guy… with the down to earth approach to things that only come from real life experiences.

    Pete


  11. Shae
    645 days ago

    @Pete, I’ve had numerous conversations with Mitch and he’s definitely your kind of guy :-) I hope you enjoy the interview! Thanks for stopping by!


  12. AnotherSteph
    645 days ago

    I got to listen…great interview! You made me want to buy the book! :-)


  13. Shae
    645 days ago

    Steph, glad you enjoyed it! You should buy the book…you won’t be disappointed! Really great stuff….he has an audio version too so that might be better for you so you can listen while on the road. I haven’t heard the audio version myself, but considering how engaging the text is I suspect that the audio is really outstanding.


  14. Bilgefisher
    644 days ago

    Shae,

    I enjoyed the interview. It was kinda cool that he mentioned The New Phycho-Cybernetics. I’m listening to it now. I’m enjoying more then Think and Grow Rich. That says a lot. Its a great listen. I now want to get Self Made in America. I’ll probably listen to Mitch’s book first. Glad you did the interview.

    Jason


  15. Shae
    644 days ago

    Jason, I’m definitely picking up the The New Psycho-Cybernetics..probably on audio. I just finished Think and Grow Rich recently (right after I read Mitch’s book)…..looking forward to the upcoming Flip This Bookclub discussion on Steph’s site :-) Hope you’ll join in!