Dear JJ, I must take issue with your comparisons of the Financial Mkts with the Real Estate Mkts. To wit; if one has a losing “trade”, one loses money. If one hears a “No” from a seller in Real Estate, one at least gains experience and insight from the attempt and loses no money. I do understand and very much appreciate your drawing parallels between any suggestion of a guarantee of any kind between “win rates” in the Financial Mkts and the Real Estate Mkts.I laud your efforts to warn against unreasonable expectations in either endeavor,but at least in Real Estate (I am not a fan of any “Guru”!) one can make ridiculous offers till the cows come home, and not lose a dime. How one structures one’s management of properties one acquires is a “whole other matter”. With respect, John Wade.
“New Market Wizards” author Jack D. Schwager quotes Ed Seykota’s line, “Everybody gets what they want out of the market.” Is Carleton’s Sheet’s course worth $300 or Personal Coaching worth $2,500? Does it work? It’s only going to be worth it if you get what you want out of it, and that’s a personal value question you should settle beforehand.
Seykota used math and computers to scientifically extract a fortune from the futures markets. The factual quantity and quality of these type property transactions, in spite of a positive attitude and unofficial claims, is anybody’s guess. Carleton Sheet’s affiliate, Professional Education Institute, maintains a “training and education” posture, but I think that Sheets and PEI should be held strictly accountable for making any semblance of the program’s vaguely stated “time tested and true” effectiveness, just as Validea dot Com holds the stock community accountable. Any stock, futures, or real estate product can claim success for some undetermined percentage of course participants.
If you knew that there were on average ten such properties within four-hundred square miles, you could make some time, expense, and success approximations. The Coach/ Client agreement, 1996 copy, states that “… if after completion of Phase I [two month] and Phase II [four month]… you have not completed at least one real estate transaction, we will continue to work with you at no extra charge until you complete your first real estate transaction…” It requires getting out there to find these properties if they’re in your locale, anybody’s guess, and there is no thirty day money-back guarantee. It’s either a worthwhile education to you, or relatively expensive entertainment, or you’re a speculator risking potentially unlimited time and expense.