Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA) on July 09, 2002 at 23:27:45:
Bobby C--------------------
Usually when people ask about real estate investing “educators” one can put it in the search engine at the top of this main bulletinboard forum of the CREONLINE.COM website and get some comments. This time I did not seem to get anything pertaining to them. I found a couple of posts with that name but they don’t sound like the same thing.
Thus, I give you my advice, without knowing anything about the group you are referencing, except what you say about it.
I worry that it is a sophisticated operation, intended to separate eager beginners from their hard-earned money. I say this for a couple of reasons. The time-deadline for getting the discounted fee. This is a standard pressure tactic to get you to spend you money without due consideration.
The promise to pay you to find good deals is also a standard tactic used to lure beginners into paying for real estate investment education. Some companies seem to always find something wrong with every deal brought to them and thus they never live up to their promise. I heard one sales pitch for a foreclosure seminar that required a front and back view and, as you mention, comparables and so on. However, when you buy a foreclose on the auction block, you often can not get in to see the back. What I am saying is that it might be difficult to satisfy the requirements for them to put up any money.
It sounds to me as though they make their money from the beginners paying a lot for education which can probably be gotten a lot cheaper. If they really made their money from making deals brought in by their trainees, they would not have to charge so much.
If I were in your shoes, I would be on the phone to them early in the morning asking them for names and telephone numbers of satisfied students who took the course from 6 mo to a yr earlier. And then call those references, if you get them. If I were doing this and could not get any references from them, I would NOT PAY them anymore. There prices seems awfully high to me.
My suggestion would be to use the money that you would have paid them to make your first deal or two happen. There are lots of ways to learn this business at a lower price than they want. If you want to know my advice for beginners, I suggest that you put “beginners success” into the search function at the top of either this main bulletinboard forum of the CREONLINE.COM website or the board2–Carleton Sheets forum. I recommend low-cost ways to educated yourself.
Good InvestingRon Starr**
