The "Influencer" Guru is far worse than even a "guru" with a questionable persona.

[Nate Marshall]

Do you find more "influencers" in REI now than experienced or dedicated real estate investors? Shilling crypto one minute, then only fans and then real estate.

You Tube and other platforms have made it possible for a lot of these types to enter the space They shill crypto, supplements, only fans and now real estate. Questionable strategies. Promoters recruit them. 

Are they becoming dangerous? Yes IMO. I believe we have a crisis brewing.  

When they are promoting lending in 3rd, 4th and even 5th position people will lose opportunity and money in new ways. Madoff is spinning in his grave wishing he thought all of this up. 

[Evan Polaski]

I would say, while there are more people selling their courses than I wish, the number has actually gone down in the last few years.  Just like in 2021, or so, every other instagram ad I was seeing was someone selling their crypto trading scheme.  Then bitcoin dropped from about $60k to 265k per coin, FTX goes under and all the bitcoins gurus are gone.  

Same thing with real estate: it was very easy and lots of interest in it in 2021.  Now, not nearly as much interest, and more stories about foreclosures, capital calls, etc.  So you still have some people trying to sell their guru courses, but far fewer.

The challenge with any guru, as I have stated time and time again, "those that can, do.  Those that can't, teach".  If you are a real estate investor, you are a capitalist.  As such, the guru is so successful with real estate, why are they taking time away from such a profitable, lucrative business to sell their secrets to others.  The answer is either, they aren't as successful as they want to appear (I would say most common) and need to be making money somehow.  Or, like many "courses", it is really just a pitch to get their students to start doing the work for them (sourcing deals, raising capital, etc).  In this case, the guru not only gets the student to pay for the course, but also basically builds an army of people to start feeding them deals, capital, etc, in which the leader can share in a piece of each.

[Nate Marshall]

Quote from @Evan Polaski:

I would say, while there are more people selling their courses than I wish, the number has actually gone down in the last few years.  Just like in 2021, or so, every other instagram ad I was seeing was someone selling their crypto trading scheme.  Then bitcoin dropped from about $60k to 265k per coin, FTX goes under and all the bitcoins gurus are gone.  

Same thing with real estate: it was very easy and lots of interest in it in 2021.  Now, not nearly as much interest, and more stories about foreclosures, capital calls, etc.  So you still have some people trying to sell their guru courses, but far fewer.

The challenge with any guru, as I have stated time and time again, "those that can, do.  Those that can't, teach".  If you are a real estate investor, you are a capitalist.  As such, the guru is so successful with real estate, why are they taking time away from such a profitable, lucrative business to sell their secrets to others.  The answer is either, they aren't as successful as they want to appear (I would say most common) and need to be making money somehow.  Or, like many "courses", it is really just a pitch to get their students to start doing the work for them (sourcing deals, raising capital, etc).  In this case, the guru not only gets the student to pay for the course, but also basically builds an army of people to start feeding them deals, capital, etc, in which the leader can share in a piece of each.

 Truth to that. A legit reason for some but maybe 10%. 

[Nate Marshall]

If you cannot talk to the "guru" themself you should ask yourself why you would want to work with them. Could it be they have too many "students" or are they simply using "shills" and "influencers" to make them seem larger than they are thus attracting more people to give them their hard earned money.