Posted by Hal Roark on January 10, 2003 at 13:25:04:
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Robert Allen - Posted by Todd
Posted by Todd on January 08, 2003 at 11:08:49:
Does anyone have any experience with Robert Allen cources? I recently ran accross some info about his e- books and I don’t know much about him. But he claims he bought 1 million in realestate in 24 hrs.in San fran.and can show anyone how to do it. Is this guy for real or another scam artist? Also a friend of mine thought that he filed for bankrupcy a while ago. Any info on that.
Thanks,
Todd
Re: Robert Allen - Posted by JD
Posted by JD on January 09, 2003 at 16:44:46:
Some more commments you should know about Robert Allen:
Allen himself got into financial difficulty with the IRS as early as 1984. In 1986, IRS filed a $346,395.79 lien against Allen. In 1987, when trying to explain his financial difficulties, he also had:
· another $65,649.90 IRS lien
· more than $76,000 of delinquent tax warrants filed by the State of Utah
· lawsuits and judgments regarding over $100,000 in unpaid fees to fellow gurus who spoke at his meetings
Allen declared bankruptcy in May of 1996. Allen was telling people his bankruptcy was caused by an avalanche that destroyed an expensive home he and his wife were building.
The avalanche occurred around February. But the IRS and the State of Utah had filed liens against him for non-payment of taxes months before the avalanche.
And there is still the pesky fact that he was in financial difficulty before the avalanche ever happened. There is the question of why he was building a mansion in the mountains when he was not paying his state and federal taxes like the rest of us.
Re: Robert Allen - Posted by GL(ON)
Posted by GL(ON) on January 08, 2003 at 15:22:47:
Allen was big in the 80’s. He was one of the first to take “nothing down” and make it a household word, through his very popular books and seminars.
I recommend his books because they are interesting and you can pick them up in second hand stores for $1 or$2.
However they are dated, they were meant for a time when interest rates were 10% to 13% and the big problem was to get financing. Then the rest would take care of itself as house prices zoomed up every year.
He hasn’t been involved in RE for years, he went bankrupt in the late 80’s along with a lot of other real estate cowboys and now he is pushing multi level marketing of miracle health products.
Re: Robert Allen - Posted by phil fernandez
Posted by phil fernandez on January 08, 2003 at 13:50:18:
I agree with Robert. Get ahold of Robert Allen’s book " Nothing Down". Read it from cover to cover. It’s a classic.
Re: Robert Allen - Posted by Robert Campbell
Posted by Robert Campbell on January 08, 2003 at 12:47:17:
If you have never heard of Robert Allen, I would recommend that you do a lot more to educate yourself before you throw your time and money into the real estate investment arena.
Robert Allen’s first book was Nothing Down. It was published in 1980-81 so. It sold almost 2 million copies and was new the top of the New York Times best seller list for nearly two years.
This is maybe the first “best read” for any aspiring real estate investor.
Robert Campbell
Re: Robert Allen - Posted by Bryan-SactoCA
Posted by Bryan-SactoCA on January 09, 2003 at 21:16:32:
John Reed says that people have gone to jail for using Allen’s no money down buying methods. Allen himself seems to be rather disreputable. As for the book, I read Nothing Down For The 90s, published in 1990 or so, and found his methods unrealistic and unworkable without “fudging” (ie lying to everybody). There’s another guru who likes to sue people, his book has you illegally turning SFH’s into rooming houses. This sort of stuff seems to be fairly common among creative RE gurus, which is why I’m still somewhat suspicious of the whole thing. I only want to do cresative methods in order to build enough cash to purchase apartment buildings and make money in a more traditional fashion.
Re: Robert Allen - Posted by John (Rome)
Posted by John (Rome) on January 08, 2003 at 16:07:46:
I would also recommend his “Creating Wealth”…another best seller…
I do agree wholeheartedly with Robert Campbell…you need to study a tad more…
Good Luck
Different time; different place. - Posted by Brent_IL
Posted by Brent_IL on January 10, 2003 at 21:39:35:
The NMD books were written at a time when many areas of the country were experiencing annual housing price increases of ten percent. Mortgage rates were in double digits, too.
Obviously, some of the concepts need to be re-worked. As an overview of CREI for the fledgling buyer-on-terms, I think Allen’s books still have much to offer and should be among the first study materials read by one seeking to learn about CRE.
Even those folks, who follow your lead and use creative methods in order to build a pile of cash to do something else, must first learn the basic CRE approach.
John, I think it was Warren Buffet who said … - Posted by Robert Campbell
Posted by Robert Campbell on January 08, 2003 at 16:53:12:
If you are sitting at the poker table and you don’t know who the patsy is, you’re it.
Robert Campbell