Fortunebuilders.com Good or Bad?

Question

Has anyone had any dealings with 
fortunebuilders.com? Attending a three day seminar that my wife purchased and I am looking for some feedback about this group :help:

Jim M. · Answer

I went to one of their courses here in Charlotte NC and it was very informative.  I met a couple of guys who were in their program already and became a private lender for them for 4 flips in this past year.  I am not part of their program but just attending put me in touch with some good guys and then a few months later I was on this site and have continued to meet and partner up with some good people.  Its a great way to network with people but you will get out of it what you put into it.

Kevin Priester · Answer

Chris,
 
Thanks..I am going in with an open mind.  I consider myself an advanced investor, but I am never to advance to learn a new trick. I stopped going to the seminars a while back because I was starting to feel like I was getting the same old information over and over again. And I felt like I wasn't getting anything new that I could take my business to the next level with.

Sherry Lewis · Answer

Kevin,  I don't have any personal experience with the company, but I did look them up.  They have a 3 day course that they charge 1197 for.  At that course they try to sell further education.  I attended something similar to this last summer.  It was mostly a sales pitch to buy their higher end products.  In the end I was able to get a refund of my money (I was lucky).  I have learned much more off reading forums, articles and blogs on Bigger Pockets then I learned in their course.  I cannot speak for this particular company, but Scott Gillory was associated with the one I took.  The folks that do these TV shows are setting up "Real Estate Guru" classes and making a mint off people.  I would do substantial research into the company looking for reviews about their product before I finalized payment to sit through their course.  BP has a summit coming up in March.  I would suggest saving my money on the course.  Learn all you can from the site and attend the summit in March.  You don't need to pay someone to learn about real estate.  You just need to ask questions here (which can be done for free) and read all that you can.  You will find everyone is very helpful on this site.  Of course this is my opinion.  Good luck to you.

Chris Clothier · Answer

Sherry -

Your opinion is very valuable and being willing to share it is what makes BP so powerful.  The fact remains that not every person is going to have a good experience at live events or buying education products or coaching programs and you have to give real feedback!

Joel Owens · Answer

It's simple really.

If going to a seminar and paying money will take MOST of your net worth then don't do it.

People think these classes are the silver bullet to getting rich.Then they get mad when it doesn't happen and they are almost broke.

I would say in that case KEEP YOUR MONEY and do mailers for leads and read FREE material in books and on the internet.Find local investors you can learn from where you want to do business.

If you are making money at substantial rates and want to pay for a seminar then it won't be the end of the world for you if it doesn't pan out.It's no secret that many companies will get people at the seminars to "source deals" for them to partner on and use the fees from seminars to buy more properties and get richer.

It is NOT for the benefit of those attending the seminar.I do not know this company and I am speaking in generalities.

You can find these systems for 30 cents on the dollar usually selling for resale on Craigslist,Ebay,etc.

When I bought a broker course on generating listings first getting into real estate the regular price was 997.00.I went in with another broker and bought a used one from the same year on Ebay for 300 so we paid 150 apiece.A year later I resold it once extracting all info for 250 to another broker.

So if you are great at and enjoy sourcing information you can do it for cheap or almost free.If you want it in a nice little package you will pay heavily for it.

A common tactic of seminars is to throw almost all the "meat" out there and then when you buy the course it just resays about 80 percent of what was already said with a lot of fluff thrown in.

Sherry Lewis · Answer

Kevin, with the new posts I have seen on your topic this morning I stand potentially corrected to their program.  It sounds like others have had a positive experience here on BP, although I still politely disagree with paying for a course that teaches you what you can learn here for free.  There is more knowledge on this one website then any course can possibly show you and you don't have to pay money to get it.  That being said, I wish you all the success!!!

Chris Clothier · Answer

Kevin -

I have been attending seminars and bootcamps since 2003 with a lot of different results and some pretty strong opinions on who I think is legitimate.  I met the owners of Fortune Builders in 2009 and as an active investor I highly recommend their programs for investors who are ready to build an investing business.  I attend a lot of their bootcamps around the country and often speak at them about business building, being an entrepreneur and property management.  The 4 owners of the company own about 25 properties here in Memphis that we manage, their employees have purchased about 20 additional properties and we manage investment properties for their parents, siblings and many of their friends.  I say that for disclosure but also so that you understand they don't just preach how to invest, they do it as well.  I have also done several JV deals with them on the west coast and know they are on pace to close nearly 100 fix n flips this year.  They are very active investors - not just selling products.

If you are attending their rehab bootcamp in Jacksonville (which given your location I am making that assumption) then I think you can get a lot out of those three days.

I am a big believer in these guys and have never been paid any money to send them students or sell their products or anything.  I just know them personally, along with many other "gurus" and I do not share these kinds of endorsements on very many people.

All of that being said, you will only get what you put into a weekend like this and i think you already know that.  If that is the weekend you are attending then understand it will be tailored only to rehabbing houses.  If you are looking for information on building a wholesale business or other real estate topics then you will be disappointed with that weekend.  Just be real clear of what you want to get out of a weekend like this.  Best of luck -

Chris

Sherry Lewis · Answer

I just noticed their is a topic about this right now about how to not get scammed by the real estate guru.  Check out the post and read Andrews blog.

Fortunebuilders.com Good or Bad?

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