The "Short Take" on Real Estate
(Separating FACT from FICTION)
Programs - Courses - Chat Rooms
If you are like most people interested in a career in Real Estate investing, you may feel confused and intimidated - which course is best? Who can I trust for good, solid information? Can I make money doing this? What do I need to know?
There is a tremendous amount of information out there - some of it is good, much of it is garbage. Yes, you can make money using many of the programs. Unfortunately, most programs either cost too much, or they are shy on enough details, forcing you to either pay big bucks for mentoring - or both.
Hopefully, this page will clear some things up. And before you even begin, you should go to the Better Business Bureau website and see for yourself which businesses have many complaints filed against them, and which ones do not. You may very well be quite surprised at what you find. A company can say all those great things about themselves, but what really counts is what the customers say to the Better Business Bureau. (Many have written us that they have trouble finding Carleton Sheets at the BBB. This is because he is only the spokesperson - the company that offers his program is American Marketing Systems Inc. They average 200+ complaints/year).
Another way is to go to any search engine, and type in the guru's name followed by the word "scam". If he has unhappy customers, you will find it here (unless the guru is too new, in which case it may not be wise to invest in untested material).
Now, before we go any further, some of you may have seen a website that claims to be selling the "real estate coach's guidebook", or the real estate coaches "Bible". Pure hokum! We have been coaching new investors for decades and can say without a doubt that no such "guidebook" exists, and never has. The person who claims to be offering copies of this "guidebook" starts out by using a bogus name, supposedly because the person does not want to have the real estate industry on his/her back for giving out these "secrets". More hokum. Since the "secrets" are not secrets at all, the only reason for anonymity is because he/she does not want the CUSTOMERS to know who he/she is, and therefore will never be called upon to prove his/her credentials. Now, with that said (and hopefully that particular bit of garbage taken care of)...
First: Yes, YOU can make money in real estate, regardless of your situation. Doesn't even matter if you are bankrupt and unemployed. But you can only make money if you get the right information and are willing to use the information you acquire. No one is going to do it for you. If you learn the basics and apply a few simple strategies, you can succeed. It helps immeasurably if you have a mentor who, himself/herself, is a qualified, practicing investor (Mr. Sheets, for example, was an industrial salesman prior to putting his program together). Doesn't it make you wonder how anyone who spends hours each day in chat rooms, or a lot of time doing infomercials could actually be practicing investors?
Second: All you really need to know are a few basic concepts, and have a good mentor. This is because, and regardless of what many would have you believe, real estate has not changed much in over 500 years - all the real estate strategies being used today are founded in Old English Common Law, and have been with us for generations. All of the "new" strategies are little more than variations or combinations of these basic tenets of real estate. What has changed, and will continue to change, are the lender regulations that often determine what you can and cannot do, and some state regulations on such things as lead paint or asbestos clauses. For example, in 1976 banks began including a "due-on-sale" clause which pretty nearly eliminates assumable mortgages.
Hence, if you can learn the basic strategies, and the variations, you have all the basics you need. From there on, all you need is a pro to turn to when you need assistance (mentor), and you must put in the effort.
Third: Who can you trust for good info? That may not be an easy question to answer. However, as a general rule, if the person is "anonymous" in a chat room, or the person's credentials cannot be checked and verified, it may not be wise to take what they have to say as "good info". We have found a lot of good info in chat rooms, but we have also found a lot that would get you into a lot of trouble. Why? Because many of those "chatters" are either "newbies" themselves, or worse, "couch investors". They have all the books and programs. They have studied them. And now they consider themselves experts although they have never invested in a single property. They do not even know if the info they have is valid. Yet, they pass it on as though it were written in stone by the Creator, Himself. And many of those chatrooms are "rigged" - operated by persons who have their own books or programs for sale. Some chat rooms edit and delete posts that say "too much" good about someone else's materials. Censored chat rooms, such as Creonline, should be avoided - you will often get just one side, and that will likely be biased. Many of our clients have tried to tell others of our program, using the Creonline chat room, only to have almost everything deleted. Bear in mind, Cre has their own materials to sell. If you must use a chat room or bulletin board, choose one that has no axe of its own to grind - one that is uncensored, and the operators are not selling their own real estate materials.
Then there are sites like John T. Reed's. He supposedly "reviews" all the real estate "gurus" - even those whose programs he has never even seen. And we have yet to find a single review that really speaks good of anyone. Of course, as it turns out, Mr. Reed has his own real estate books to peddle. Hence, his "reviews" appear to be nothing less than a transparent ploy to drive people away from anyone but himself.
So, who can you trust? We are not going to say that we are the only ones who can be trusted, because that is not true. But the fact is, our materials have been used successfully in 17 countries by over 67,000 clients. Our clients include Realtors, professional investors, builders, attorneys, unemployed persons - people from all walks of life. The people who created our program are a group of actual investors who invested yesterday, are investing today, and will be investing tomorrow. Any solid investment information that is legitimate and sound will be found in our program. Anything that is not legitimate, or is in any way questionable, will not be found in our program. The program details all the strategies and variations that we, ourselves, use regularly. Some variations were developed by our group, and are added only after being field-tested for at least a year.
Moreover, of all the good programs out there, ours is the least expensive for what you get, because we operate as a not-for-profit. Our mentors are volunteers from our own investor group - the same people who put this program together. Our credentials are solid, and can easily be verified. And unlike the programs that give you the "bare bones" and force you to pay thousands for mentoring, our program is detailed enough so very little mentoring is required - and when mentoring is needed, it is ALWAYS free.
And of all the books and programs out there, only one - ours - includes agreement maker software to make the most intimidating part of investing a cinch. It creates a variety of contracts easily, and error-free. More important, these are not just the "standard" Realtor forms provided by most other programs - our forms have been specifically crafted by real estate attorneys so that they benefit you far more, whether you are buying or selling, and they even protect you from making costly mistakes, because they are designed to allow you to walk away if things do not work out.
Finally, our program includes (20) bonus books concerning many other aspects of real estate that are usually overlooked by other programs. Information from HUD, FHA and VA, for example, provide you with all the details about closings, closing costs, escrow, and so much more. And a Seller's Guide, because investors are not just buyers - they are also sellers at some point. Plus 18 additional bonus books, and more. All for a fraction of what other programs cost. And, as updates are made, they are available free to all of our clients, so our program never gets out of date.
Of course, there are those who, not knowing the first thing about our program, will make comments such as, "Simple Man - does this mean you have to be simple to buy it?", or, "It can't be worth much if it sells for so little", or even, "His time can't be too valuable if the mentoring is free". Such people never bother to find out that the word "simple" is not the same as "simple-minded". They don't bother to find out that our program is inexpensive because we operate as a not-for-profit, and any incidental profit that we might make is donated to charities such as Save The Children, whom we sponsor. And as for "his time not being valuable", it appears they are not aware that there are many in our investor group, not just one person, and each of us volunteers as mentors. And they fail to realize that, if a program is GOOD ENOUGH, and detailed enough, very little mentoring is required. So, because our time is valuable, and because our mentoring is free, we strive very hard to make our program the absolute best available, and as detailed as possible.
In short - you can do this. You can if you have the right info, from people whose credentials are publicly known. "Nuff said.
From the staff of IntelliBiz
Bill, David, Chuck, Eric, John, Robin, Vicki, Rachel, Steve, Janet, Jim Jr., Wes, Christi, Bob