How to Retire with a Million Dollars

Even as enthusiastically extolled here, the business of buying and maintaining rental houses to become a millionaire might seem as much trouble as any other line of work, but Zimmermann wrote the book mostly for ""women [who] can manage a household budget and know... how to bargain shop."" She delivers the details and makes it all sound like fun. Despite inconsistencies on what the rental rate must cover and the advantages of buying directly from a homeowner, this guide is loaded with real-life material: buying and fixing up cheaply ""the dog of the neighborhood"" (one such house rose $60,000 in value within a year); finding at a good price houses on sale because of job loss, transfer, divorce, death or foreclosure by government agencies; tenant screening, with specific rental procedures, along with sample forms for deposit agreement, rental applications, leases and the like. The author, who is based in Tennessee, touches only lightly on two important subjects affecting rental profit--real-estate taxes and property insurance--but never mind, this is a terrifically useful book. (Mar.)