Renatus Investment Coach/ Mentor
Engineer · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 8 posts · 7 votes
Renatus Investment Coach/ Mentor
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Residential Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 6 posts · 16 votes
12yHi Marisa,
I may catch some flak for this, on this site. I'm a current Renatus student in Chicago, based at the same Downer's Grove office you probably visited. I've just been a student for a little over a month. I believe, personally, that it's the right fit for me. But I'm not going to say that everyone/anyone NEEDS a Renatus education to succeed in Real Estate. It's true as other posters have stated, that that there is a LOT of information right here in the BiggerPockets community. In fact, I usually listed to BP podcasts on my Thursday commutes to the office for study groups.
What Renatus and the Downers Grove office study groups give me are the comprehensive, structured education, followed through in study groups, and a community of students and mentors who have gone through the classes and have gone on to make a number of successful deals. There is a group accountability to complete the classes, there are discussion groups to make sure concepts are covered, there are regular events (these events are NOT visiting "gurus" whose appearance is aimed at selling additional products).
You would be with people whom you will be in a 'graduating class' with, have had education together with in study groups, and will be able to do deals with. I've gotten to know several of the other students and instructors pretty well in the short time I've been with them. There are a number of other activities hosted by the Downers Grove office: Today after work I visited a fix and flip in Barrington that's about to go on the market - where Renatus students who participated are going to make a ton of money. After that, I traveled down to Downers Grove and in a small group I played the Cash Flow 101 game. This is a "Rich Dad" product aimed at training you how to think about real estate investments at a broad level. (Other Chicagoland REIA's also host "Cash Flow nights" for the same purpose).
If you do not pursue Renatus education, you can find communities of Chicago investors through REIA groups, including Meetups which are listed here. I'm sure Brie Schmidt has already reached out to you if you have made an introduction here, and she can probably steer you to her REIA group. If you tend to work better with some structured education and with a group of people who will motivate you, hold you accountable, and keep you from procrastinating, and if you can commit to traveling to the Downer's Grove office on at least a weekly basis (Thursday nights), then Renatus may be a good fit for you, at the $2k "Essentials" level.
Renatus DOES have an education marketing side, which is completely optional. Myself, I'm not focusing on that. In fact, when I was first introduced to Renatus, the education marketing side gave me red flags, since I perceived it to be a MLM. I like to steer far away from MLM's and have had a couple MLM's pitched at me which I've declined in the past. I feel education marketing is 180 degrees from what I want to do. But I can understand their argument that you need to learn to market to be successful in real estate anyway -- whether it's marketing yourself, your abilities, your properties for wholesale, for rent, for sale, etc. The company's arguments for giving students the option to market its education are: 1) it keeps the money in the community where it can be reinvested rather than sending it to ad agencies or other advertising vehicles, 2) It allows students another mode of cash flow so they can build an operating/investing budget with which to start their RE investing 3) It helps train students to become salespeople, and this discipline is valuable in real estate.
I personally think that Renatus' idea to market the education this way also gives them a terrible image problem, considering that I resisted the first opportunity to join because I checked up on Renatus online and concluded it was an MLM scam, and you can see that there are many who bring up the "MLM" label in regard to the education sales. I personally am not focused on selling the Renatus education. You'll see that I do not have any kind of link in my bio or in this message pointing you at any kind of place you can register. In fact, this post is the first time I have ever mentioned the company on Bigger Pockets.
Whatever your decision, I wish you all the luck in your investing career. If you sign up, I will NOT get a commission based on your decision - that would go to the person who recruited you through the Craigslist ad.
207 Replies
- Mililani, HI · Member since 2016 · 7 posts · 1 vote10yJohn Smith your point is moot because you're basing your opinion out of hearsay. Did you hear Bob Snyder himself say he runs a pyramid? Is it anywhere in writing? No, all you have is whatever you hear from whatever source you have. It's evident on how you're going on and on about something you understand very little. If Renatus was all about just selling the education, then why is it that they're updating several classes in a few weeks? Why do they put so much effort on keeping their courses as current as possible?
- 10yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@Juan Navarro I guess for me its just personal experience of being a HML for 30 plus years and being in RE for 42.. I simply have not come across an investor who has made any kind of significant income and credits renatus for it...
I have a client in Chicago that kills it in small multi ( Trained by Lindal and swears by them)
I have funded many students of all the other guru's ( can't help but do it there is so many ) and be them Montalongo ,, rich dad , fortune builders Dave del Dotto Carlton sheets what have you .. there will always be a certain amount of folks that just need that kick in the pants to get moving.
My most successful folks tend to be in Real Estate as top agents either commercial or Resi who then morphed into doing their own deals once they had a very strong base ( see my personal career).
I think for me if renatus materials were so good why don't they just sell them why do they try to use a MLM approach or whatever the heck you call it.. but they pay existing clients over ride to bring in new. they bait and switch terribly.. by putting out craigslist adds promising 10k a month and bandit signs to me that's stinks of total bush league ..
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes10y
"I think for me if renatus materials were so good why don't they just sell them ..."
Um, Jay?
That's what we ARE doing!
...or is it that you object to companies which have a commission-compensated sales force?
The much-maligned Scott Rowe worked in commissioned sales - he was, as I recall, an Executive Vice-President responsible for sales offices in seven states for the company which became Overstock.com after it jettisoned it's commissioned sales force. That means he lost a more than quarter million dollar salary.
Now, he, Bob Snyder and rest of us PROVIDE opportunities for people to "earn as they learn" by helping new investors learn to avoid the financial pitfalls suffered by people like BP's Brandon Turner and others who post here about how their deals went sour and they lost big bux because of what they had not yet learned.
See the difference in thoughts?
Renatus has a sales force of people who earn commissions by helping others seeking to learn. Those commissions help people do deals! ...and feed, house, clothe, etc. their families!
If I'm reading you right, you would rather see Bob Snyder and his people build a website where people and can go to enroll themselves with all of the profits going to Bob Snyder and his team: a couple dozen people or so.
Let me just put that out there without offering any further analysis or viewpoint on it. I didn't even realize what I'd actually said until I went back to proof-read it (I probably still missed some errors).
David J Dachtera
"Success is not a destination. Failure is not an event. Success is a process, failure is a choice."
- DJ Benedict - 10yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
yup that's what they should do... you have legions of folks who are in it to just make money selling real estate materials its classic up sell.. look up Pro Schools.... this is what they should do.
I use them for all my license renewals.. its a huge company.
If Renatus is selling on line training why not just do this.. Answer they want the MLM approach.. for everyone they suck in 90% go by the way side. at least at pro schools its a few hundred bucks for quality education.
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes10y
Well, you're entitled to your opinion, of course.
Needless to say, my side disagrees - I'm sure that's safe to say.
Again, we are NOT MLM. We are direct sales.
No one is "in it to just make money selling real estate materials" (on-line classes). We are all students of the education. How can anyone who has never experienced the education speak sufficiently intelligently about it to interest someone else to look into it? (Sort of the same problem BP'ers like you have.) There is no requirement to purchase the education in order to sell it; however, it would take someone unusually REI-savvy to be successful never having seen the classes.
There is NO up-sell. We have three tiers - period.
There is also no requirement to market the education! You can just be a student - period. Marketing is optional.
Since you brought it up, let's talk "quality education".
How many instructors at Pro Schools - or any place else - ...
... are volunteers (are not compensated for teaching)?
... do in their own business what they teach in their classes?
... have made at least $1 Million doing what they teach?
Let me state my earlier observation a bit differently...
Bob Snyder licenses us Independent Marketing Affiliates to enroll students and build investor communities across the country, and pays us commissions to do so. The communities are analogous to REIAs, except we all have the same REI education and we are FAR more productive and profitable collectively. Our "monthly REIA meeting" is the monthly RE workshop which features a catered networking lunch and is led by an instructor of one (or more) of our classes (again, volunteer - not compensated).
You, on the other hand, would have Bob Snyder and his team be a "guru" and his "minions".
That's ok, really, you're in some great company: the gurus HATE us! Lotta BP'ers do, too, because they think we're "gurus" and MLM, though clearly, we're not.
So, there's the cards - all out on the table. Which is the winning hand is, for now, a subjective opinion. We'll have some announcements late this year which will change the scenario significantly.
David J Dachtera
"Success is not a destination. Failure is not an event. Success is a process, failure is a choice."
- DJ Benedict - 10yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@David Dachtera 1 mil in this business Is peanuts.. that's no big qualifier
but regardless.... knock yourself out
- Mililani, HI · Member since 2016 · 7 posts · 1 vote10yI guess getting an education from a "accredited" university, getting yourself hundreds of thousands in debt to the government, just to realize that now you are the most educated barista at Starbucks is the right and honest way to pay for your education. But hey you have that piece of paper now, and you're happy you didn't buy from a MLM scheme, you have a diploma! Would you like some whipped cream?
- Investor · Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 0 votes10y
I just got involved with this team in South Florida. I am not considering it a MLM but I see how people may see it that way. I can say I did go to a super Saturday and Scott Rowe was present, great motivator and fun speaker. I really enjoyed it. I am currently only involved in the IMA, no pressure, I can take this at my own pace. I will probably go the Essentials education just because it makes sense. I am not a newbie to Real Estate Investing so I know what they are doing. If you want to be an expert in the field you need "EDUCATION". I have not visited a school yet that is FREE.
- Peachtree City, GA · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 0 votes10y
Disclosure: I am a current student of Renatus.
@Marisa Dickson I have been reading all these comments and I just want to tell it like it is which is what I would want someone to do for me. Renatus is not only an education company, but a community of real estate investors that come together each week and study together, talk about on going deals, discuss problems with deals we are working on etc. The education is just a tool to get you from A-Z. The marketing system they offer is also meant to be a tool, a tool to make extra streams of income WHILE you build your real estate investing business. Marketing is not for everyone. I tried to start my real estate investing business for 18+ years by attending "Free" workshops help by the "guru's" and bought and bought and bought to the tune of 6 plastic tubs full of outdated material. I searched the internet when it became available to do so, googling, websites such as this one, REIA sites etc. and the problem was NONE of that showed me how to build my business from the ground up step by step. NONE of the real estate investing "guru's" fully discussed how to save on taxes or protect by self legally while investing, much less have an entire class on it. AND with no other program or system out there was I able to learn how to fix my credit or learn how to acquire money just to do real estate investing. The "guru's" teach you juuuuuust enough to get you wanting more and then try to up-sell you on more. THEN they say oh sorry you only have 12 months and then you owe again. That's crazy!!
Yes Renatus education is not free, but my question to you is what education out there is? You go to college for many years and graduate hopefully and if your not a doctor or lawyer or some sort of specialist in your field, you go to work for a company working for pennies! Did you go to college? I did and I was able to make $40,000 a year pay in by "business" administration job. Don't get me wrong college is great. Knowledge is great! But I feel if I am going to spend allllllll that money, I should graduate knowing HOW to make money. Right?
So the point I am trying to make is this...after 18 years of trying what all these people are telling you to do by researching your self. Just know I completed 7 deals in 18 years making tons of mistakes along the way and a total profit of zero because I received bits and pieces of information here and there and I thought I could become successful. It's hard to eat tomato soup with a fork!! You need to learn the process of building your business from the ground up. AND have ALLLLLL the information to do so. I joined Renatus 1 1/2 years ago and I currently own 3 residential properties, 1 commercial office building, and have partnered up with another investor within our community to do a fix and flip property. I have personally have over $3000.00 per month in positive cash flow right now, all because I decided to get true education. AND I have 9 more deals under contract.
No matter what you decide, just know you get what you pay for. I paid $20,000 for my education and now for me the sky is the limit because I decided to take the leap of faith and go for it. I don't regret one thing because my family has a better life because of it. I wish you luck with your investing career! Thanks
- Glen Ellyn, IL · Member since 2015 · 6 posts · 1 vote9y
@Joey Wharton I am now seeing this post even though it is from 2 years ago. You mentioned NVREA was $40k for a 3 day bus tour and towards the end of your entry, you said Renatus was $20k. NVREA is also $20k not 40K, but they actually teach! They only talk real estate and never have mentioned about recruiting. I have gone through the whole program with my dad and they also have lifetime support. There are many successful students posting deals to partner up on daily on their Facebook group. I would look into them again. Did your partner go through their complete training? How did that go? With Nick V. you actually get your moneys worth.
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
Does Nick V. have local investor groups from coast to coast + Hawaii?
Are his classes available on-line 24x7? Does he give lifetime access to his on-line classes including all updates and additions? Do his local investor groups have study groups to help people understand what they're learning in their on-line classes?
Does he have a tax and legal class which can help you save enough on your taxes to help you pay for the education?
Does he have a credit expert who can help you put your credit back together if you need that?
Does he have a super-charged version of Realeflow that not available from any other source?
Just asking.
Oh, but he doesn't pay you to help others change their lives ...
Well, some of these are better than others ...
- Glen Ellyn, IL · Member since 2015 · 6 posts · 1 vote9y
Yes he has local investor groups around the country that were created by motivated students to continue support and learning. I host the Chicago one!
Yes he has online training, 24/7 helpline, lifetime support!
Yes he has tax and credit covered in the training with specialists there to help.
He has his own version of a deal analyzer/ rehab calculator to assist with deals....and sure, it's "Super Charged" lol
And no he doesn't teach students to waste their precious time marketing and drawing new students in like Renatus. Purely Real Estate investing!
Any other questions?
I have never been to such a class. But my personal opinion on that is that it is like an MBA course. All the things taught are common sense stuff and can be learned elsewhere. But with some really good courses, you get connections and networks you cannot get otherwise. With that said, you need to listen to the feedback of previous attendees, not just the lecturers or advertisers.
At the end of the day, when it comes to real business, you need to do your homework hard and thorough. Do not think one course can make you rich. The things learned are just the basic backdrop. You need to fill in the details yourself.
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Danielle Davies:
Yes he has local investor groups around the country that were created by motivated students to continue support and learning. I host the Chicago one!
Yes he has online training, 24/7 helpline, lifetime support!
Yes he has tax and credit covered in the training with specialists there to help.
He has his own version of a deal analyzer/ rehab calculator to assist with deals....and sure, it's "Super Charged" lol
And no he doesn't teach students to waste their precious time marketing and drawing new students in like Renatus. Purely Real Estate investing!
Any other questions?
Well, yes, actually...
You're saying lifetime "support". Do you always have access to the on-line education? Does he charge extra for updates and new classes that he adds?
Is he a CPA tax accountant / JD tax attorney as well as a real estate investor? Do his tax/legal classes qualify as continuing education for accountants and attorneys? Is he a partner in a law / accounting firm in addition to his REI business?
Does he teach the credit classes himself? Is he or any of his specialists considered an expert witness in credit-related litigation? Is he / are they consulted by legislators on credit-related issues? Does he / do they chair any credit industry committees?
Does his deal analyzer / rehab calculator also find pre-foreclosures and other off-market properties, private lenders, cash buyers, ... or provide access to the MLS for better comparables than Zillow and/or Redfin? Does it have a factory full of robots "hand-writing" letters and envelopes with actual ball point pens to help you with your direct-mail marketing campaigns? (Hand-written mail pieces have a higher open rate than computer-printed.)
Renatus has 20 instructors now and still growing with some 500 hours of on-line classes. Two of the newest classes are Multi-family Fix-and-Flip and Building Business Credit.
If someone asks you how you became successful as an investor and you refer someone to his program, does he compensate you for that? Would an extra $1,000 to $10,000 a month paid twice weekly help you in your real estate business? (Marketing is optional, by the way - not everyone does it.)
Not sure if it's this thread, but I posted that one of my group's senior leaders, through his marketing efforts, was presented with a $28 Million deal consisting of 60 lots with an estimated $4.8 Million in profit at the exit. I guess such opportunities wouldn't be helpful to you ...
- Hana, HI · Member since 2016 · 2 posts · 1 vote9y
Disclosure: I am a student and IMA with Renatus
I understand where the skeptical people are coming from, as I too was the same at first.
I did my research with this company and when i saw research I donʻt mean "opinions" from what i see on the internet, because itʻs just that opinions. I was looking for facts and facts is what I base my decisions on. Renatus is A plus rated with the BBB. And i also learned that MLM companies need to register with them as an MLM. Renatus is not registered because they are not a MLM, it is direct sales.
I became a student a month ago and already I have learned so much and it is changing my life. I am not so much focused on the marketing, mainly on the education which i know will take time for me before i start making money which is OK. Iʻve learned how to pay down a 30 year mortgage in 8-10 years, tax strategies to pay less in taxes, how to invest using a self-directed retirement account, and how to find deals before they go public.
I also have contact information for the top investors who have been really helpful when Iʻve contacted them for help. Theyʻve made themselves available to me and want to help me in my investing journey which is priceless to me.
I live on Maui and went to the Regionals Training in Oahu where I personally met the Founder Bob Snyder, my mentor Hugh Zaretsky, Michael Huggins, Scott Rowe, Woody Woodward, Tony Scotty, and many other mentors in the business. They were all friendly and encouraging.
- Banker · Ponte Vedra Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 16 posts · 3 votes9y
All you people who think Renatus is great are just drinking the Kool-Aid. Look up Curtis DeYoung, Google him. He used to be a "trainer" for Renatus and he screwed a lot of people out of a lot of money and Bob Snyder should get some of the blame for that and he got none....Renatus is ONLY about selling the education. You can learn how to invest in real estate through a local REIA group or just by looking on the Internet or just go buy a rental property, you're an investor.
If you want to praise Renatus, do it someplace else. Or why don't you look for all the people who wasted their money. And if you make complaints about anything, they come after you, first in a nice way, but if you don't comply, they will come after you hard and call you names and it's pretty bad. I know because I had a friend who almost got me involved but then she got screwed and it opened her eyes and I got lucky but my friend not so much. It's all about selling the education, that's it. If you become an investor, you did it on your own, not with the help of Renatus. If the education was so great it wouldn't be such a hard sell and the "mentors" who I won't name names, they wouldn't be having all the "trainings" on how to sell the education if it wasn't about the education.....so maybe one you Kool-Aid drinkers can explain that, why do they spend all their time teaching you how to "sell" the education if it wasn't about selling the education????
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
Curtis DeYoung was NEVER employed by Renatus and no longer has ANY relationship with the company in any way, shape or form. His own company is ... well, Google is your friend. Personally, I've moved on from it. You probably should, too.
We have 40+ classes / some 500 hours of on-line education available 24x7 - no selling or sales training in ANY of it ... except, of course, for the Real Estate Marketing class. If you're going to flip properties or rehab for resale, you'd better know how to execute your exit strategy.
Renatus IS a marketing company which sells real estate investing education, that's very true. It is also true that, unlike "the gurus", Renatus has 23 communities of active, profitable investors nationwide and is growing.
Many communities have monthly RE workshops - nothing is for sale at any of them, unlike REIA meetings where the speaker typically has an offering.
If your friend had an issue, did she approach them about it? ... or the BBB?
Was she involved in the education or the marketing side? They ARE separate, and marketing IS optional - it is NOT required.
- Banker · Ponte Vedra Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 16 posts · 3 votes9y
You are drinking the Kool-Aid. "Employed" is the key word that you used, not me. He was associated with and he DID teach a class on, guess what, self-directed IRAs and he was pals with Snyder and everyone thought he was a wonderful guy and was at all the big meetings, so please, give me a break....you are wrong what you say. You are only trying to get around it by using the word "employed." Nice try, but it doesn't fly.....
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
At least you are correctly using the past tense. I am CORRECT in what I say - EVERYONE in Renatus, as well as his other clients, knows what he did - again, Google is your friend. Some even still have money tied up in the litigation. His classes are no longer part of the curriculum and have been replaced with a new instructor. We no longer have ANY dealings with him.
Nice try, but you're still "stuck in the past". Join the rest of us in the present - you'll be MUCH happier and infinitely more profitable in ALL your dealings!
Hard to grab hold of opportunities in the present when your hands are full clinging to the past.
... or are you like my ex? She holds on to grudges the way most people hold on to municipal bonds.
- Banker · Ponte Vedra Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 16 posts · 3 votes9y
Of course you have nothing to do with him because the guy is going to jail....so please at least be honest, the guy DID have a relationship with Snyder, with Rowe, and was an instructor. You make it sound like you fired him. No, he got indicted and I know that there people who at the beginning thought he would get exonerated...the stupid ones.....
And if a creep like DeYoung can fool Snyder and Rowe, etc., what makes you so sure it can't happen again? The guy had a longtime relationship with Snyder...so stop drinking the Kool-Aid...
By the way, I have no grudge, I am only trying to tell the truth. You must be a liberal because it's only liberals who start insulting people when they know they're losing the argument...
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
I never said he didn't - quite the opposite.
I never said it can't happen again to this group or any other.
Not sure what your problem is, but you REALLY need to get off social media for a while and work out your issues.
Looking back, I see this goes back 7 months ago, circa Feb. 2016. So, yes - you ARE carrying grudges, whether you realize it or not. That means you're in denial as well as your other issues, whatever they are.
Please get help!
- Contractor · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2013 · 647 posts · 205 votes9y
@John Smith @David Dachtera, I don't have anything relevant to add to the conversation, but wordsniping back and forth doesn't help anyone. Thanks for your input, but let's try to keep it civil and move on. Thanks guys.
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
... and THIS is why education is so important:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/383729-need-help-seller-gave-me-a-bad-deed
- Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 2 posts · 1 vote9y
I see quite a lot of discussion regarding the MLM aspect of this company. Here's my (hopefully) dispassionate opinion and statement of the facts of which I am aware. I do not know what the legal definition of an "MLM" is, and it is my understanding that Renatus is not officially registered or recognized as an MLM, so it may very well fall outside that technical definition. However, there is a multilevel sales structure that goes three levels deep. Where salesmen are making fifty percent commissions off of a fairly big ticket product with overrides that can in theory include 30-40 people, there is a LOT of money to potentially make on sales commissions. My own feeling and opinion is this: if people are treating it like an MLM, then it is. If they are not, then its something else. From my experience, most affiliates (but certainly not all) are fairly knowledgeable, honest, and transparent about how the compensation plan works. Many (but certainly not all) Renatus affiliate offices are committed to teaching, training, and promoting members' success in real estate investing. I think this is a model that can work well if involved parties actually stay on an honor system and make genuine and professional efforts on behalf of students who indeed want to invest in real estate. However, there are people out there for sure who are trying to exploit the sales apparatus being offered. The honor system, from my experience, cannon be trusted to work. If its the right choice for you go for it, but be a careful consumer and plan to be an honest and ethical salesman and company rep.
- Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes9y
Renatus is NOT - never has been and never will be - an MLM, regardless how people treat it. It's direct sales. The two are not similar. Only overrides are paid 3 "levels" down, not commissions. The accepted (dunno 'bout legal) definition of MLM is that you only earn commissions on product sold by your downline and the percentage is determined by the "depth" of that line with respect to the sale.
Again, speaking from first-hand knowledge and experience, not gossip, rumor or conjecture.
My local community had our monthly REI workshop a week early due to the impending holidays. We have one every month. The difference is that, unlike REIAs, nothing is for sale at our events - not even our education. If you choose to buy, must do so from the person who invited you.
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