BiggerPockets

Moved to Real Estate Guru, Book & Course Reviews and Discussions forum.

Welcome to BiggerPockets.

Please don't post in all caps. Its considered shouting.

Hi Mario
One of my partners attended one of hers last year. One of us tries to get to all the commercial and Private Funding seminars.

This is not a negative review.
However, read your purchase agreement carefully, detailing your right to cancel at OR before the event, if it is still offered by the bootcamp presenter.

If you are one of the cocky folks with the confidence to take down your first cm'l property and finance it in the current market-- without a partner, then ignore the following:

BEFORE you go, thoroughly outline YOUR GOALS, of what you want from a seminar, e.g.:
1. do you want the right to partner-financing and/or mentoring on your initial commercial deals?

If so is RIGHT to partner included with fee to attend bootcamp?

Or, as is be coming more common, must you upgrade to Mentoring, the expensive up-sell fee while you are HYPED-UP at the bootcamp--before you can submit deals for consideration?

2. if you want to be able to partner:
Percentage of deal you must give up to partner
I wholeheartedly endorse partnering on your early deals--helped me make the jump from anti-social prep school nerd, to having my name on a growing portfolio of small cm'l properties far more quickly than a broke grad student with too many degrees otherwise would have--plus the due diligence training and learning the financing of projects with private investors etc... greatly shortened the learning curve.

3. With the knowledge of your right to cancel at the event, compare the costs of partnering and or mentoring, if you want it, with this bootcamp presenter, to the costs of getting your goals met with the other top commercial bootcamp providers, all of whom have been doing this
MUCH longer than has Ms Hanover, and therefore have a more researchable track record of happy and unhappy student-partners, by which they can be evaluated.

EVALUATION SOFTWARE
In terms of the commercial property evaluation software that comes with most of the bootcamps [though it did not with the Ron Legrand cm'l],
I prefer Scott Scheel's--it's just organized like my brain thinks and we use it both for property analysis and funding proposal projections.

If you're near a major city, I always suggest to my extended family and friends that before they do a national mentor program, try to find a LOCAL mentor [visit your REIA], who can provide HANDS ON training on your deals, and more importantly,

local connections for professionals you'll want to form relationships with to add to your "team" as you learn to evaluate deals pre-contracting, do due diligence after contracting but before closing, and managing the property after you close

A local mentor can also help you avoid adding bad folks to your team--so don't feel locked in, if your purchase agreement has a right to cancel at or before the event clause.

Again, this isn't a negative review, but there are more experienced bootcamp presenters out there with a half a decade or so longer track record on commercial properties--but you need to decide if you want just a bootcamp and manual, or an experienced partner to help you evaluate, finance and close your first deals

and if the latter, then compare pricing of "the right to submit deals" of the top commercial boot camp presenters - as their fees vary a good deal when you get to the "up sell" of mentoring and partnering

hope this helps

Bob

Hi

I appreciate that post from Bob. I've been pressured to get into these coaching programs and have not done it mainly because of the following reasons: I don't meet the coach in person, I don't know if the coach has experience in the local market or particular type of investing I want to do and there is no guarantee. Without meeting someone face to face, its difficult to know who I'm working with and what they will commit to my success. For some coaches, its a fast way to make money, after all a coach can't be responsible for my mistakes or lack of effort or accountability. Another investor told me that inherent in the idea of a mentor is that the mentor do the mentoring without taking money.

Boy, this is great, a thread of new people to BP, welcome! Great comment Eric, but I realize you're not here, lol. Any insight to the original post?

Karen Hanover is a SCAM ARTIST!!! BEWARE!!! She is travelling around collecting $30,000 per person for her Fast Track program in which she says she will place you in a property with her managing within a year. She has been collecting students since August 2009 but has yet to place a student in a property. She is either going to go to jail or skip the country very soon.

[LINK REMOVED]

KAREN HANOVER IS UNDER FBI INVESTIGATION AND HAS DISAPPEARED. BEWARE

http://duncanwierman.wordpress.com/category/karen-hanover-exposed/

Wiki Leaks - Karen Hanover brings dishonor to real estate education industry
Archive for the â"Karen Hanover Exposed' Category
FBI Sets Up Karen Hanover Victim Hotline - Please come forward

with 3 comments

FBI released a press news yesterda asking anyone that is a victim to karen Hanover or her Fast Track program or any of her bootcamp victims please step forward and discuss the matter and file your complaint with them. There is now a hotline set up for her and all her victims at 310-477-6565.

Case # Karen Hanover318E-LA-256665

This is a great time for all victims to be able to come forward and not feel Threaten By Karen Hanover or her legal team for a law suit or being bullied.

If you like to recover your money please step forward and make sure you file your case.

For the ones that have filed please make sure you contact this # and ask to see if they have your current contact and phone # as FBI has been sending out letter to all victims that have come forward. if you have filed with FBI before and have not received a victim information and case information please call 310-477-6565

SPECIAL agent in charge of this case is Paul Bonin.

Whatever happened to good old fashioned hard work??

I share whatever knowledge I have with my clients for free.I also learn just as much by exchanging ideas.

It really sickens me that there are people taking these kinds of fees and doing these camps.

You need money to do deals and will look at many commercial properties to find a deal.

If you have no money and no experience go put your time in with a mentor and learn from the ground up.

Whatever happened to ethics,integrity,and doing what you say you are going to do????

Hopefully she gets put away for quite some time...at the moment it's 3 years just on the spoofing charges which she was arrested for. edit: Apparently she is out on bond posted ($75K) for now, but is set for her next hearing shortly. Either way she is more then likely done...

The more evidence that can be gathered against her in the defrauding category, the longer her sentence can be. Contact the FBI at (310) 477-6565 with any information you may have.

Nick:
You think she's innocent????
She scammed one of my investor friend as well!