BiggerPockets

He was promoting a 3 day bootcamp for $5,000 that was coming soon.  (if you think 5k is a lot he IS charging 25k for his mentorship.)  I laughed and thought “what a joke, who would pay 5k”.  The more and more he talked the more I agreed with what he was saying and belived in him.  (He is an excellent speaker and conversationalist, he toured with Anthony Robbins)  The more I listened the more i convinced myself, “The cost must be justified, and with everything he’s giving away there must be gold in his course!!”   He even showed a majic trick to the audience at the begining of his promo to emphisize the point that Real estate is soooo easy and there is no “magic” to it…

What actually sold me on the course was how he had been working his Subject 3 closings.  ( As some investors know a sub2 closing most likely referrs to taking the deed and leaving the existing mortgage in place. I will explain more to anyone wanting to know more.  Esp. with the new laws.  Well a subject 3 is his cute term for having the seller refiance the home pulling money out for them, then proceed with a sub 2.”  I had been trying to convince sellers of this before with spotty results… I wanted to know from him his advise on this one thing!

He said, “I will go through this and much more at the bootcamp!’

I was pissed he wouldnt tell me.  I thought the whole situation over and convinced myself again that surely bootcamp would be worth it. Not to metion he even said he had loads and loads of leads he would be handing out that he couldnt get too.  He was really saying, “If you come to my course i will let you into my circle of experience and sellers list.” He had neither!!

Ok,ok. So I paid my $5,000 of my hard earned dollars and attened his bootcamp…  (My mentor at the time said it was going to be  a joke.  I didnt listen, of course!)  The class was comprised of 12 green-newbies, the ‘guru’ and , myself.  The bootcamp was all fluff. 

“Everything” he gave out and went over class was other peoples courses.  he spent the first 2 days talking about other peoples courses: a wholesaler, reo, and finding private money.  None of this was listed on his brosure of what would be covered. From the gift bags he gave away, to the last day we spent on 6 hours on “how to property contact realtors!” 

Everything was extremely elementary and could have been covered in an hour.  Lunch ran 2 hrs everyday, and wasnt even free. 

When I asked him on the 3rd day for a refund he agreed but told me to stay for the rest of the class as a guest.  I was mad that I had wasted my money, but happy and respectful that he was so easy to talk too. 

Later that night he took us all out to dinner where he announced that he would be giving us all our own deals.  We would be joint venturing with him 1 on 1. 

Well, now we where talking.  After dinner I told him to nevermind and that I would stay… I belived him because I thought he had my best interest at heart.(not to mention I was being greedy for the profit that I overlooked what was going on!)

Our jv deal:  I invested another $12,000 of my money with him, all the while insisting he has never lost money with a student and showing me all the numbers we were poised to make.  (Later I realized he pocked much of the 12k I gave him.)  he ended up braking even on the deal and placeing the loss with me.  I did recoup about 3k from him, only after I threatened to get an attorney!

Moral:  Do not be impressed or sidetracked looking at the big house or fancy cars or prime highrise office! The true mentors are the ones that spend hours with you for free or because you took them out to lunch.  The ones that charge $300 for their weekend seminars or papers.  The mentors that have been around for a years… not months.  Do you diligence anbd ask around to whom is doing the real business.  And where they are actively doing real estate or just trying to sell courses!  Be watchful of anyone claiming to have the “greatest, best or ultimate” system that noone elase on the planet has! Ya right.

Be a servant!

John Fedro

*******2011 Update*******

I ran into the teacher I spoke of earlier in this article in November 2011 in a San Diego real estate conference.  He looked tired and stressed.  Either the real estate market wasn't treating him right or all his students realized he was a fraud. Either way the animosity I once felt for him was replaced with justice and pity.******