BiggerPockets

What do you know about James Smith? Is he legit?

I am a student of James Smith and I have found it to be the most legit, open company I've seen in real-estate investing. I have been to a 3-day residential core training and also the M5 (a 5 day intensive covering several aspects of real-estate including commercial). The wonderful thing about James Smith is that he does not advertise or try to sell books--in other words, he has not "sold" off his name like other programs I could mention. James will talk personally to ANYONE who comes out, and his son Ryan has been awesome at answering my questions. These people are not concerned whether you have paid them tons of money or not. There are programs and mentoring you can sign up for, but it is not pushed upon you and you can ask tons of questions at any event without being ignored because you haven't paid for more programs, etc. The people who teach for James are NOT snake-oil salesmen and they ARE students themselves. What really convinced me to stay in touch with them is that one of their speakers Robert Johnston is NOT good at public speaking or presentation making! I say this not to insult him-he is a student who is a genius at creative financing, but I have seen so many trained salespeople at other companies' events. Don't be afraid to look into James Smith's company, it's unique to the genre of programs!

Yes i know James and his kids. Ryan bough us dinner in Vegas on night so i owe him one! We are in his program right now and so far its pretty good! Aaron the CEO helped us out alot actually too!

i not some person he pays to come on boards and say this crap either. I can say i went through Robert Kiyosaki's coaching and, well, it was ok but it just felt like the lady would beat around the bush and literally read off notes. I got enough help to ge my first place so i cant complain.

Right now im in james coaching program and i can say for SURE they KILL Roberts program. The info is great and even when you get very creative with ideas they have answers. Their first 3 days seminar thats like $50 KILLS trump and kiyosaki and you really see how crappy their programs are compared to james. I mean 50 bucks? TOTALLY worth it if you are new i would reommend you call his company and see if there is one where you live that cost $50.

James even gave me his personal email, Ryan (his son) and even his wife Jamie respond to my emails and questions as well. Very helpful and if you dont have the money, ask them if they can help you out and if you REALLY dont have the money to spend but you have room on credit cards, sometimes they will even tell people no because they dont want them to be in some horrible situation .

I dont know, thats what i feel and i think its great. You cant help but have a good time because he is so unpolitically correct and i dont even know if i spelled that right

yea i feel bad sometimes because i was sending Ryan ALOT of emails with questions LOL. I stopped cause it was prolly driving him nuts. I wish they were here more often cause i could sit there all day and listen.

I hear a lot about how great the Smith's are, but I haven't been able to find anyone who is making money. I went to a seminar, and am considering purhcasing the mentoring program, but I want to be more comfortable with the investment. Has anyone found succes with the program?

I attended the 3-day financial success seminar in San Diego last week, and I was completely blown away. I have 13 pages of notes, and have already made 4 offers on investment properties using the knowledge I gained. I think it is in everyone's best interest to be as educated as possible. I am sorry that some people have had a bad experience. For myself, I will be taking every opportunity to work with this company again.

Here is the best review I've read on the James Smith Company:
http://www.shanehunter.org/james-smith-financial-success-review/

smh

I am sad to read about Bryan Forsythe's experience with JSC. Let me tell you about my own experience. In 1997, I went to an event in which James Smith spoke in Miami, FL. I was very impressed and purchased the Tax Liens product for $2,000. Some months after that, they convinced me to purchase a whole program for $20,000 (yes, a LOT of money) and I did. Due to my moving to another state, my full-time job (which I love), and numerous family problems, I did not do anything with it until 2009. Since then, they have been delivering everything that they promised, and the best coaching imaginable. They DO make sure that you make money... and their strategies work. There is absolutely no way I would have been able to learn all this on the internet. JSC has totally changed my life forever. Also, when I went to the 5M conference (totally included in what I had paid to them), I was able to interact with James Smith and confirm that he is an honest and down to earth person who truly wants to help people. At that conference, I also met many people who have been very successful at implementing what they have learned from JSC. My experience with this company has been very positive.

I too signed up for James Smiths programs back in 2007 with the 3 day Real Estate course, followed with the 20k follow on that included M-5, which we attended in Vegas in 2008, the Foreclosures and Commercial boot camps and a paper course. By the time I attended the paper course, I was already a default note buyer and was beyond the level and scope of the course. I enjoyed all the events and all the instructors. They are a nice bunch of guys and everyone is very polite.

My question would be how many of you actually used the information to launch a real estate career and are successful, in that you are not working for anyone else, but fully independent and supporting yourself on the knowledge you gained?
And beyond the knowledge, did you build a network of friend and business acquaintences?

I can say yes to the networking. Although I took a different direction, if I had not have spent the money, I wouldn't be in the note business today.