BiggerPockets

I've bought a Andy Heller lease option course for $800 (I think). It was a good beginner course, but did not teach me the 50% or 2% rule.

I've also bought a wholesale course for $400. It had some basic contracts but never panned out cause it was geared towards a market that is appreciating vs. what we are in now.

I also had a mentor (Nick Johnson) and we split our first two deals (no out of pocket expense paid to him).

All in all, I'd skip the courses and find a mentor or learn through hard knocks.

Justin,
You can consider yourslef fortunate enough to have found an opportunity such as that. Having an experienced "real" mentor guiding you along the narrow path is a huge advantage. Assumming you made a profit of $20k on your transaction, you split that and thus, your mentor cost you $10k.
That $10k was well spent because you have since completed several transactions on your own keeping the entire profit margin. Good for you.

Harry,
Congrats on pulling the trigger and starting your RE investiment portfolio. That is definately a step in the forward direction.
I too believe that doing is your best teacher (experience) and the only way to get that is to get out there and (to quote a phrase from Nike) JUST DO IT!

Thank you both for your contributions, I certainly hope we get more.

Will

I decided to skip the guru / mentor thing and instead learn by doing. I did a fair amount of due diligence before starting but it still took me three deals to become profitable. But I learnt a lot from each of those deals so you could consider it a form of payment for education.

I am the same as Jon, I donated here on BP, and bought some books and bought a couple lunches from successful investors. Also joined a couple REIA groups.

Of course there was a cost (not much, though). That's what I meant when I said "a form of payment for education."

The main cost, from my perspective, was the profit that I could have made that I did not make. But any business has a learning curve so I am happy with the way I did it and would probably do it the same way again.

I actually think that paying for a guru course or a mentor can be much more risky than what I did. In my case, I was definitely going to benefit and learn from the experience so the learning was assured. But if you pay money to a guru or mentor who turns out not to be good, then you have just thrown money down the drain with nothing to show for it.

Having said that, I must admit that if you can find an experienced and honest mentor, it can make sense to get their help. As Jon and Robert have mentioned, it would be nice to be able to get them to guide you by taking them out to lunch, but I guess sometimes you may have to pay for it as well.

My grandfather was a master craftsman, he made holes with augers, cuts with hand saws, sanded wood my hand and carved it with chisels and hard wraped leather mallets. He was also a builder. I worked construction as a kid and worked on commercial buildings for an engineer. My uncle was a commercial developer mainly in Texas. I mention this because I was around real estate from an early age, I was lucky there.

I began investing when I was going to work for a Real Estate Broker. He was my first mentor and being in a very small town, there wasn't much to make a living on as a Realtor, after all, there were four in a town of about 1500. He got me in the insurance business so I could make a living, and did well. That taught me the sales angle.

Sorry you had to read all this to find out I never took a guru course. My gurus were college business professors. I did read a few books other than real estate text books, but I got more out of the text books than the hoew to guides. The how to's were easy to follow after having the formal and basic RE instruction and I soon took off with my own ideas.

I also had a neighbor who was the Judge, he guided me as well in many areas of RE and business.

So, with those who msuggest a local mentor, I agree! I don't see any reason at all for anyone to buy a guru program, system or plan. My true opinion is that they are only in the business to sell their products and say anyone can do real estate. I disagree, they say that to open their market for their product. Not everyone can do real estate and make a living at it everyday. Maybe everyone ought to try it and see, but really, IMO, some just won't get it and think the RE is easy, fast and will make them rich...just not always true, it does take some skills and talent.

As mentioned above, BP is a fantastic resource, something I never had when I started. There is absolutely nothing in residential real estate and small commercial properties that is not or can't be covered here on BP! While you won't get the details, you'll get more out of BP than any guru product, IMO>

For the details, which should be in complaince with your local area, you need a local mentor.,You can expand you knowledge by reading books, even guru products, but there is no reason at all, IMO, to spend significant dollars for something that, in the end, you might not be able to do for a number of reasons. Sorry to mess up the stats on the question.....Good luck!

It appears that the majority agree with doing as much research on their own from the web, books, etc. attempt the process on their own, The learning curve has been and could be costly, but experience is the best teacher.
I agree but also add that avoiding the costly mistakes in the beginning is somewhat priceless and to do that, you need experience, of which, you do not have at the start. Therefore it makes the most sense to me to locate a mentor who DOES have that real life expereince investing who can guide you throyugh the mucky waters.
Again, there are many options, just wanted to hear opinions of others and possible come to a consensus of the "best" methjod to start.

Keep the comments coming.

Will, your idea of having an experienced mentor sounds good in theory but is not such a great one in practice. Let's think about it from the perspective of the newbie.

We all know that there are tons of people out there to part someone from their money. So how does a newbie figure out which mentor is in the 1% of mentors who are worth their money? If you have to spend $2,000 per mentor and if you try ten mentors before you find a good one, you would have blown $20K, which is a lot of money wasted for someone new to the business.

And you cannot select mentors based on what they claim about their success because that's what even the bad/crooked ones will do. So I agree with Rich - don't risk your money on finding a good mentor. That's like trying to win the lottery. It is better to learn from the free advice of experienced people on BP and actually do deals and learn from them.

Vikram,

You make some valid points which are really the entire problem to begin with for newbies - how to find the "real mentor"
I think RE clubs and right here on BP is a great start. After spending a month or two here, it is quite clear who are the do'ers and who are the tire kickers or phonies.

Perhaps the best answer is to get involved both with your local RE investment clubs and stay active here on BP. Use these two sources to locate the real investor and hopefully, have them assist you in your goals.

mdlandlord- thanks for your honest comments. It is quite common to find some of the best info from real life investors and not the self-proclaimed gurus with all the "secrets"

I own about 50 books. The problem is they are almost all the same. There is not much out there for advanced investors. It is all the same Guru bs in every book. I learned from that.

I also learned from my mother who is a tax lawyer and now my partner on some deals.

I bought the class on DVD to become a realtor but never ended up watching it. I decided I did not want to sell real estate. The bubble had just burst in Florida and we saw the signs that the rest of the market could go south.

People talk about mentors on here all of the time. I think very few people have this one all knowing mentor that I see often requested by new members. Why would someone respond to a post "Need a mentor in CA. Please help?" You might have some luck, but i doubt it. The "mentors" or people in my life who have helped or given me information do not have that formal title and I might only have one interaction with them. It could be a realtor I met at a showing, a title agent at a closing, a friend I see once a month at a dinner party and we talk for a few minutes, or someone at the bank.

We all learn different ways and from different sources. Most of us will never become real estate millionairs. If you are lucky enough to achieve that, as long as you didnt spend that much getting there and come out ahead... you won.

A free site like BP or asking questions of peers has the BEST ROI. If you arnt getting the info you need from doing then buy some books. If all of the free stuff doesnt help you then you might think about another type of investment as you will likely waste your money on courses.