Posted by Killer Joe on March 26, 2005 at 19:16:46:
Mr.Big,
I am a player in the infomercial biz (small time, think microscopic) I go to their conventions (Electronic Retailers Assoc.) when my schedule allows and I can tell you that most of your assumptions are correct. Once you turn your product over to those marketers it’s the same as a skydiver jumping out of a plane. It would take a reversal of the laws of physics to get back in that plane, or some extremely creative flying on the pilots parts. In essence, NOT GONNA HAPPEN. You are no longer in control of your destiny.
What separates Carlton from the pack, is in that industry he is the guru of gurus and the only player on par with him is Ron Popiel. He holds the record for the most consecutive weeks on the air by such a wide margin 2nd place isn’t even close. In essence he’s as big a player in that arena as he is in this one.
I believe he is one of the few who are compltetly ‘in-house’, that’s why it is so disturbing that he farms out his ‘coaching’ to people that misrepresent his image and tarnish what is generally considered a decent product. Go figure!
I am considering purchasing the Carlton Sheets course of no money down real estate investing and would like to know if anyone has any opinions about the course and if it really works?
thanks for all the help. i really appreciate it. is there a significant difference in the different versions of the course? would one version be better that the other or are they all basically the same?
I agree with Mr. Big. Buying the course will give you a lot of ideas to help you in REI to get started. BUT I would be very carefull about giving their sells people your credit card number. They were way to pushy for me to be comfortable. Especially when I offered them a money order and they did want that. Good Luck
Posted by Killer Joe on March 26, 2005 at 10:50:23:
Mark,
I’ve bought the course twice, once in '96 again in '04, so you can guess what I think of it.
It’s a great place to start. I read all the other posts before responding, and they all make good sense, especially Randys’ comments. (as always)
Here’s the advantage of that course. Multimedia. Here on this board we have access to the most comprehensive compilation of Real Estate knowledge on the planet. No course will give you what this site will give you, and for free at that. However, all that is accomplished using the written word only, so only one of your senses gets the full stimulation effect.
Some people learn better when a combination of senses are employed. The CS course provides stimulus for the Eyes and Ears, as well as some excellent reading material. I find some of the student interviews captivating and inspiring as they tell there stories.
I passed the course on to my children, and that has allowed them to start out much earlier in life than I did.
This course absolutely helped me get started. The chapters on getting your financial house in order, and goal setting, are as important as the RE knowledge he supplies.
If you are ready to take action, and are determined that nothing will hold you back, go for it. If not, it will be a tremendous waste of money ($560.00)
I bought the course about 10 years ago. It is a great basis for everything we do here. I would recomend it, if you are just starting out. It does work.
That said I feel the need to tell you this.
It is not quite as easy as it is presented. The hot R/E markets make one change the stratagy a little. Sheets courses talk about assumable mortgages, which only a couple still exist and almost never seen. Motivated sellers are the key to all REI.
Read the course. When completed read again. Read this sites how to articles and archives. Research your market. When you have specfic questions come back to this board for help. But most of all you have to act.
I would advise you to save some cash, improve your credit. REI can be done without these but you limit yourself to a small portion of deals. REI is not a get rich quick business. It hard stressful work. It takes a long time to become wealthy in this. It does not happen overnight even though it seems that way on late-night TV
Posted by Randy (SD) on March 26, 2005 at 09:48:22:
No, the course does not work? it does however provide some basic information taken literally with out reservation or hesitation allows YOU TO WORK! There are countless copies of the CS course setting on bookshelves, in basements and garages performing no work at all. A few people who have purchased this and other course material are successful, but their doing the work ? not the course.
This may sound overly simplistic, the point is no amount of course material will do any good unless you have a burning desire to succeed and are willing to do what?s necessary regardless of how uncomfortable it makes you feel. Understand you will face untold ?insecurity? and rejection; you must be willing to make numerous calls talk to many many sellers and make many offers before one is accepted (not always the case, you may get lucky in early attempts). I suggest before you spend the money for the Carlton sheets material, spend several days here reading all the free material, read every post, all of the ?how-to articles? and ?money ideas?. If you really want blow your socks off, come to the creative real estate online convention, this may seem a little advanced for a newbie but if you?re willing to make the sacrifice become an active participant you?ll learn more in those three days than any single course could provide.
I’m fairly new to this, I mean real estate investing with no (or little) money down. Have been buying and selling using traditional means for many years, tho.
So a few years ago I bought the Carlton Sheets course which sat in my closet until last year when I dragged it out and read the manual cover to cover. I can honestly tell you that I found it a great place to begin because it gave me an overview, written very clearly, of what’s possible in the field of real estate investing. I believe, as in the rest of life, that specialization is a major avenue to success…it’s impossible to do it all and do it all well. And until you start learning, you have no idea just how many areas there really are in REI. So for me, the CS course was a solid beginning. I’ve gone on to purchase other courses in specific areas that I’m interested in and I’m looking forward to the convention next month, my first.
One additional thought: I think that doing well in real estate investing isn’t nearly as easy as the CS infomercial would lead you to believe. It takes knowledge and skill and the learning curve is much steeper than I would have thought. I’ve been reading for months, involved in this message board for months (what a great place to learn!!), and I still feel like I know only a fraction of what there is to know. That being said, the opportunity for profit seems to be related directly to the amount of effort you’re willing to expend which I think is a wonderful way to earn a living.
There is no book or course that will make you a success or give you a foolproof blueprint to success. In that sense, none of them work.
The Carleton Sheets course has been around for a long time and it gives a good grounding in creative real estate. All the basic ideas are there. Many people have made money using these ideas whether they got them from Carleton or elsewhere.
On that basis I recommend his course, and also Nothing Down by Robert Allen that contains much the same ideas. Nothing Down can be borrowed from the library for free or found in second hand book stores for a dollar or two. The Carleton Sheets course can be bought cheap on Ebay.
I recommend you get used to shopping for bargains if you want to succeed in real estate. I also recommend you do not deal with Carleton’s sales company and especially don’t give them your phone number or credit card number. I have heard bad things about their sales tactics. The words “aggressive” and even “crooked” come to mind.
Glad you reiterated that point! - Posted by Killer Joe
Posted by Killer Joe on March 26, 2005 at 12:53:06:
Sterling,
Mr.Big is right, and you did everybody a big favor by seconding that opinion.
My experience with being hounded by the follow-up pesterers left a big question mark in my brain regarding how ethical that organization was. I won’t go into detail here, but trust me, you will have to learn to disassociate the course you bought from all those “Gurus” sitting at a telemarketing station that have those astronomical BMW car payments that try to intimidate you into exhanging your nest egg for their short term goals.
You’re much better off taking the original knowledge the course gave you and applying it to your first deal.
Or, you could pay these people to keep holding your hand. Maybe if you doubled the money they might change your diapers too. Just a thought.
In many cases the course is being sold by a completely separate company and the guru has no control over the actions of the sales company. I believe this is the case with Carleton Sheets.
Keep in mind that he is an American with something to sell, and his whole career has been in sales of one kind or another.
The hard sell seems to come with the infomercial business. The infomercial sales companies generally do not get a good name which reflects on the products they sell, even though the maker of the product may have no control over their actions once he signs a deal with them.