Rich House, Poor House. Financial guru Robert Kiyosaki has turned bearish on the boom he helped create

“But now, in the past couple of months, the man — whose engaging financial parables have coaxed millions of ordinary under-earning boobs (including yours truly) into the real estate market — has become a major bubble-blower. On richdad.com, which contains a forum for his casual and dedicated followers (including those who pay $100 a year to join his “INSIDERS” club), he’s begun posting articles that caution against what might be called “surreal estate exuberance.” He cites the Economist at length, including the assertion that “the global housing boom is the biggest financial bubble in history.” He confesses that he’s currently dumping real estate that produces no cash flow (from rental income) and going “long on gold and oil.”

Curious about why one of the foremost real estate boosters had begun to sound like a survivalist in the Utah desert, I caught up with Kiyosaki by phone at his home on Waikiki Beach.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m still buying real estate,” he told me, adding that he was in the process of buying seven new properties but that he wasn’t buying anything in expectation of appreciation. “I’m an investor, not a speculator. … I want it to cash flow.”

He knows that many others have not been so prudent. “I’m worried about people using their houses as ATM machines,” he says, referring to those homeowners who have refinanced their homes to buy cars, remodels or simply more real estate. “And I’m worried about all the people who are flipping properties [those who buy properties in order to immediately resell for a profit] — that’s really stupid right now.”

But didn’t his books — despite all their sound financial advice about reducing liabilities and increasing assets — probably help fuel this real estate craze?

“I think it’s so,” he concedes.

To be fair, Kiyosaki hasn’t recommended that people leverage their homes for real estate riches. One of the key tenets he hammers away at is that a home is not an asset but a liability. “A lot of people think of their homes as real estate,” he says. “I don’t play games with my home. I own two houses and I’m very attached to them, but I don’t get attached to my real estate investment. It’s just ‘Show me the money’ — if it doesn’t cash flow, then I sell it.”"