A friend of mine sent me a link to a free real estate class ran by Than Merrill that's taking place in Maryland and Washington, DC. Even before joining BP, I never trusted these "free class" ads. Has anyone heard of these guys or attended a class? I was thinking about attending just for the "Real Estate Investors Vocabulary Guide" and the other 4 free books/guides. 

Here's the site she sent me:

FortuneBuilders.com

- RHY

Most members here are "anti-guru" but I started off with Fortune Builders years ago and it was a great start. Joining their full mentor program (mastery student) is rather expensive, but I know several mastery students and they do quite well. Everything that they teach can be found in other places on the internet (especially right here on BP) but it's nicely packaged and easy to reproduce. They also have several networks that you can plug in to. It is a great way to quick-start your education, but I wouldn't spend a ton of money on it... the weekend bootcamps are decent and some of the courses are good, but I don't see the sense in spending 10's of thousands of dollars when you can use that money investing. I actually like to go to the "free" workshops as I use them to network with other active investors, but you can get similar results at your local REIA. I've spent about $10k on education over the last 7 years and I think it was well worth it, but FB's Mastery Course was over $35k when I was first introduced to it and I have no idea what it is today.

I work with clients all over the world. Some have invested money in education systems like FB and some have learned right here on BP. My most successful client is actually a Rich Dad's student and people flame Rich Dad's very hard here. This client has only been investing for 7 years and owns 43 rental properties (all-cash) in 4 different markets and rehabbed over 100 flips. He has not paid any taxes in years and lives off of the cash-flow. He started with no money 7 years ago by structuring JV's, raising private money, owner finance deals, etc. I think education is very important, but don't spend too much money on it. There are plenty of books and online resources that provide the same type of information for a fraction of the cost. There are plenty of people who will answer questions and even mentor you.

Using the free workshops to invest is something I hadn't thought of. Thanks a bunch for your insight, @Ross Denman !

- RHY