Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2014 · 122 posts · 35 votes
Love his content, Podcasts, Etc. Considering joining the coaching program to excel my probability of performing my first Multi-Family deal. I’ve been analyzing deals left and right to perfect the decision making process.
Thought I’d join his coaching to get my first deal done and continue with the Law of the First deal wheel and kick it into motion.
Has anyone here done coaching with him, any thoughts?
Jamie G
Los Ángeles Ca
@Jamie Garcia What are you specifically looking to get out of coaching? Every "guru" has their own specialty. Some are great at the analytics, others are mindset and others at marketing. Nobody excels at everything as the coaching programs are a reflection of the guru's background and personality.
Your profile says you own a construction company. That means you have background knowledge in asset, property and project management. Maybe you need help in marketing?
Alternatively, maybe you have a killer investor network but need to better understand the analytics side of the game. That will be a very different coach than a marketing coach.
My point is that most of this information is commoditized and available for free online. You need to figure out which area you need to hit the hardest (first) and then get a coach who excels at that area.
I don't have any experience with his coaching but I think his podcast is the best one for multifamily investing. I do like that he doesn't push his training on anyone, and doesn't make it sound like an infomercial. This makes me think that it is probably training.
If you move forward with it, please let me know how it goes! Thanks Aaron
So far I have found his content the least "commercial". For example, while I attend nearly every one of Brandon's podcasts and like his content very much, 25% of every podcast is a "FREAKING USED CAR SALESMAN HARD PITCH" for joining biggerpockets pro. Same problem with some of the other guys. Most of the content is to buy our book which makes me more money blah blah, while doing a video from in front of a whiteboard without a lapel mic so the video sounds like they are coming from inside a box or tin can, and these guys are supposed to be multi-millionaire real estate geniuses and they can't afford a $100 lapel mic so they can be heard properly? instant down vote.
I get it, I really do, but wow, we get it, biggerpockets is great, we love it, but as soon as he starts that gun-to-the-head sales pitch I tune out and click out.
A portion of Michael Blanks information is not really new (for the most part, some of this information has been around since at least the 80's). But he presents it very well, down to earth, diverse across many aspects of commercial multi-family and makes it understandable. Possibly because I can connect with his style and background. I am not sure if his guru program is worth it, but unless something dramatic happens, as soon as I finish my move, and stabilize our lives a bit, I am joining the deal maker program. It might be a scam, I hope not, and I doubt it, but I am going to make myself make more than a minimal effort, a serious effort of fighting the trepidation and nay-sayers generating fear and going to make something happen positive.
I can't make his seminar in Washington, but I would like to attend next year depending on where it is.
@Jamie Garcia I haven't personally taken MB's course, but heard good feedback from others. My advise is: look at several different courses and evaluate them to decide which one suits your interests best.
@Jamie Garcia What are you specifically looking to get out of coaching? Every "guru" has their own specialty. Some are great at the analytics, others are mindset and others at marketing. Nobody excels at everything as the coaching programs are a reflection of the guru's background and personality.
Your profile says you own a construction company. That means you have background knowledge in asset, property and project management. Maybe you need help in marketing?
Alternatively, maybe you have a killer investor network but need to better understand the analytics side of the game. That will be a very different coach than a marketing coach.
My point is that most of this information is commoditized and available for free online. You need to figure out which area you need to hit the hardest (first) and then get a coach who excels at that area.
I love the podcasts also have solid commitments on attending all the future live events, see you there @Mike Parlante!
The online training is a little dry but I learned tons of stuff that you will not get from any other courses. It is totally different than single family approach. I feel like I'm part of a network of multi-family operators since signing up for his course. I plan on doing coaching next and have high expectations for the 'law of the first deal'.
Its not cheep, and not for lookers and tire kickers. There are some high quality folks in the mix and the value is having them as part of your network.
I think that the most important lesson to learn is how to find people willing to invest $100K at a time when you have a deal to fund.
@Jamie Garcia MB's podcasts are great and his calculator is the best ive seen out there! There might be a few others but for sure he is among the top5 MF guys available for coaching.
I too am considering a mentoring program. I’ve looked at the top 3 that @Alina Trigub mentioned. Their content and books are great but rather than read feedback on their podcasts I would love to hear from actual clients.
There have been plenty of posts from others looking for mentors. So just look up the old posts to find the students or ex-students of these coaches. Or ask the coaches directly for references.
25k price tag, didn't feel comfortable with the coach I was speaking to. felt like i was talking to a salesperson or telemarketer instead of a real estate investor potential mentor.
HI @Jamie Garcia. My fiance and I took his online course and then did one on one coaching for a few months earlier this year. I thought his online course was great and it really helped us get on the right track and educate ourselves. For the price I would suggest it all day long. The biggest thing with any of these courses though, is if you are not going to take action on what you learn then any course is a waste of money. If you plan on taking action I would suggest taking his course! Good luck and let me know how you like it if you end up going with it!
@Kyle Mitchell Thanks for the feedback. Did you already have experience with some form of REI before taking his course? Were you looking for specific insight on fund raising or something else?
Hardly the most experienced person to learn from. I think he started pitching his coaching program and deal syndicator software (which you could easily build yourself with an Excel spreadsheet) when he owned one multifamily in DC. I find that to be troubling.
In addition, he charges people to submit deals for him to review which leaves a REALLY bad taste in my mouth. Reviewing people's deals should not be an upfront profit center because it's another source of deal flow. The opportunities you're presented with should be the profit center, not the fact the students will pay for the privilege of discussing a deal with a mentor.
You can contact Mark Belsky at Eastern Union Funding or the guys at Arbor or Meridian if you want someone to help you arrange equity and they'll charge you $0.
For anyone who wants help reviewing their deals, DM me, happy to quickly review them if you donate $100 to a charity. And if your deal is good enough I'll JV with you myself.
Given a "line by line" assessment of the necessary skills and resources to be a successful multifamily investor, how different can Michael’s program be from Rod, Joe, Gino, etc? Specifically relating to multifamily education.
@Jamie Garcia think carefully about what you want out of the coaching first. Sample everyone's podcast, books, talk to them in person at events. Find out who is going to get you to your goal fastest and go with them. Are they more focused on selling coaching or more focused on doing deals?
As @Omar Khan said, make sure they are complementing your strengths and filling in your weaknesses.
I have not used Michael Blank’s coaching, but bought into the Ultimate Guide to Apartment Buildings which is a 4 figure cost and includes a book both audio and typed, some deals (not necessarily purchased) reviewed in his deal analyzer by video, access to his mastermind group and deal desk, lifetime online support and other odds and ends.
I have not been that happy so far. The day that I got the material, I started listening to the audio book. I sent a question on Nov 21, 2018 asking him about something that he mentioned to read in his program which I did not see and got a reply on Dec 7, 2018 which is way longer than I would expect to get a reply. The reply was unsatisfactory as well and since it took 2 weeks to get that response and I had moved on from there, I wasn’t about the revisit the beginning by rephrasing my question and waiting another 2 weeks.
Most of the book (half way through) is pretty much review from so many other books that I have read already. There are a few good pointers in there.
The videos seem to be available on Youtube for anyone to see for free. I am emailed every few days to watch a video. Every video seems to end with a several minute long ad to sign up for coaching.
The website is not well setup and there are inconsistencies and 404 errors with missing files and improperly named deals that don’t match the content.
One of the deals had a missing file which I went to his Slack group a few days ago to ask for. Apparently, the guy responsible for that file answered that he would send it to me that night and wrote “Good luck in Indianapolis, there is way too much competition there.” How encouraging after I chose this city by following Michael’s method. He didn’t send the file. I reminded him the next day. He didn’t send the file again. I then re-asked the group instead of this guy and he finally sent me a file.
I just got a call today from a 3rd party asking me how I liked the Michael Blank’s webinar 2 weeks ago. The lady could not understand most of what I was saying and misquoted me when reading my reply back to me. She had an accent and a bad connection (overseas?). I was hoping that they were going to ask how I liked the program, but instead were just interested in the webinar while she had no idea that I was a paying customer.
Overall, I am not happy. I wonder if his coaching is run anyway like this. I, personally, would not spend the money to find out with what I have experienced until now.
@Kyle Mitchell Which course of Michael Blank did you take? We are planning to go for the course? Website is confusing, so not sure, which one to go for?
@Jeffrey Levy I appreciate the specificity of your comment. I've been searching around for ex-student reviews and yours is the first specific experience I was looking for. Granting that was 2 years ago, did you ever try another program?
@Jamie Garcia Which program did you ended attending? What was the experience like? If you could share any for us, it would be much appreciated. Thank you!
I read his book and really enjoyed it and felt I learned a lot, really changed my investing mentality, but I agree with @Josh J. that I don't love the charging to review deals.
Curious what others feel they have gotten from the paid course. That just seems like A LOT to give anyone for an online course. I'd rather work and learn more by doing than put that much resource into another learning tool.