Has anyone here been involved with a RE education/mentoring group named Renatus. Went to a presentation tonite in Houston. Seems like a potentially good organization, Seems to be quite pricy though. Looking for general feedback. Thanks.
You gotta love BP Nation! Here is another example of a member who just saved thousands of dollars by using his resources at Biggerpockets (i.e. the membership)
Anybody who says that being a member here and getting involved is not worth anything is a lunatic.
Please define "pricey" for us.
Words of wisdom from experience - anytime the education for RE is very expensive, it is often not worth the money. Much of the guru programs and bootcamps can be learned right here, the balance is learned in the field and very few of these programs can offer such a continued education.
Most of those real pricey ones involve people getting rich from selling books, tapes, DVDs, and getting suckers to sign up for boot camps. Use this site to get your foundation laid then look at finding real "investment education". Many times there is not a price tag associated with it.
Their base program starts out at $1,695.00 and there are about 4-5 levels ranging to over $14k. These are online programs with some 1/1 phone time. they then give you the opportunity to make some money back by referring other people to the program.
I first heard about them a few weeks ago on Facebook (I maintain a "Friends" list of real estate contacts).
I don't know much about the value of their education, but it appears to me most gurus teach no-money down investing so you can spend more of your cash on them. :mrgreen:
Renatus is the latest incarnation of Nouveau Riche. There is a VERY lengthy thread on this on the main board. I would suggest reading through the thread to get opinions on the old program:
Thanks Bryan. I had a sneaky feeling I heard that name Renatus somewhere other than FB.
You gotta love BP Nation! Here is another example of a member who just saved thousands of dollars by using his resources at Biggerpockets (i.e. the membership)
Anybody who says that being a member here and getting involved is not worth anything is a lunatic.
I too went to one of these Briefings and was sold on it. I was seeking others who knew what they were doing to help me not financially ruin my life by making a bad decision. I was never informed of anything except the initial $1695 to get started. i was told I would receive certain online readings to begin my training and also attend a seminar here in my town. Come to find out that the seminar was not actually going to happen in my town at all. Then my "mentor" discussed with me the changes and tried to keep me excited about the program by letting me know it should only be a week or two. I never received access until the end of january. It took 7.5 weeks before I was able to access anything. I was so upset and mad that I have since refused to even log in and look at it any closer.
I continued receiving automated phone calls from my mentors and they never respond to me except saying that "it should be up this week". Thsi company is bad.
They never mentioned anything about the money made from recruiting was a large source of the income. however, they did try to convince me focus on that prior to the actual real estate portion.
I almost used a portion of my mothers inheritance in order to pay for the education. I am glad I did not waste my money on this.
I have been with Nouveau Riche for the past two years, and yes, Renatus is the new spin-off company. The packages offered and pricing tiers changed a bit but the personnel is still the same.
NR/Renatus has its positives and negatives. Yes, the recruiting and mlm side is a big turnoff. If you get drawn in from the "get rich quick" promises then you're setting yourself up for failure. A company that employs a sales force that does not know their own product or does not engage in the activities that they're selling will lose all sorts of credibility. And I believe that's what happened with NR/Renatus. It's amazing how many "ISA's" will try to get recruits to pay $16k for a product that they themselves haven't even bought. Kinda shady and kinda unprofessional.
I will say though that the education is good. Is it thorough? Does it encompass all facets of real estate investing? Is it worth $16k? That's up to each individual to decide. All I can say is that I have had success with the company. Most recently I sold, at a decent profit, two properties in Jan 2011 that I purchased via short sales and just wholesaled another property this past week.
My success (short track record since I'm still a very green investor) is not just the result of NR/Renatus though. A family friend that convinced me to join NR/Renatus had a huge part in my success as well. I cannot stress the importance of mentors enough! She was a seasoned investor in NR/Renatus and steered me in the right direction when needed and provided me with an invaluable amount of information as well as contacts. I am also part of a local reia group and a few investing forums.
I've learned a lot from NR/Renatus and it's education but I've also learned a lot from other sources as well. Aside from the marketing and maybe the price, I've no bad things to say about them. But there are tons of places out there with the same or similar information and tons of websites with great discussion forums (BP being one of them) for far much cheaper.
I think a good, honest mentor and local support group is just as important to someone's investing career than these education packages. The local Renatus group here is still getting into the swing of things since it was formed not too long ago. We have a great core of investors that meet weekly. It's always fun to bounce ideas off each other and do case studies of everyone's deals. You learn a lot from the mistakes of others.
Before I spent thousands on anyone or anything, I would implement everything I have learned for free on BP first! It is all about the action, dont get caught up on the price tag. I have a friend that has bought over 600 homes all off of Ron Legrands 10 dollar intro book. He just took massive action! If you really have a need to get info, read all of the blogs here first, figure what direction you wanna take, and start asking questions in that field first. If you gotta get a course, look up courses on ebay for a few bucks.
It is sick that I go to garage sales and pick up courses for 25 cents that someone paid thousands for and never used!!
Read BP, its free.
If you HAVE to have a mentor then go to a REIA meeting. Meet someone who is doing what you want to do. Even if you have to pay them $1,000 to teach you, you should be able to make a new friend and get started.
And even then, come back and read BP some more.
My personal experience with Renatus last year as a 23 year old in 2011.
I saw questions about their education and thought that i should start answering the questions I saw to help people decide if its for them or not. For me it is not a scam.
Renatus is not a Scam.
About Renatus:
[/u]Renatus education will not work if you don't do anything. This sentence should be underlined, bolded with a box around it. [u]
Its like trying to change the TV channel with out picking up the remote and just hoping the TV channel will change. GOOD LUCK.
When I was first introduced to Renatus I liked what I saw but had questions. Since I purchased other real estate education prior and did not have much success.
I hanged out with the Renatus community for about a month or two then was convinced and bought the education. The education was great and not only covered Real Estate but some on the concepts you could use to improve your business as well. Like the tax saving strategies.
With some studying, taking action and getting help from the local community. Local community is what most of the other real estate programs lack from my option. I was able to purchase a 9 unit apartment building a year later.
How fast you do your 1st transaction is based on how much learning and action you do. So everyone has their own pace.
I used what i learned to talk to people i knew who had money since i had none my self. Buy talking to family members and friends about what i learned i was able to partner up and structure the real estate deal.
I was the time and knowledge. Partner was the money and credit.
Im happy with my 9 unit apartment purchase at the age of 24. Now im just deciding what type of real estate deal to try and do next.
The education is good and fairly comprehensive, but they spend waaayyyy too much time trying to "encourage" you to join their affiliate program for $125 a year plus another $99 per month. Seems the focus is more on selling their education programs than on doing real estate deals. In their favor, they do hold frequent real estate-related meetings -- in person and online.
On the other hand, I don't like all of the other "optional" monthly fees involved for web sites, access, etc. Bottom line: I have no problem with their real estate curriculum, but watch out for the upsells, most people won't need them to succeed.
Have you exhausted your free resources and taken action on the information you gained from them?
Until then I wouldn't even consider any of these guru programs.
In 1 month of reading probably a dozen REI books and spending hundreds of hours on Biggerpockets, I was able to make my first real estate deal. Cost of education? Probably less than $200 if you factor in the BP subscription and the books I bought.
Thank you Bryan Hancock !!! Nouveau Riche is/was a rip!!!
Guess how they made their money??
It wasn't thru real estate!!!
IT was thru..... Multi-level marketing!!!
I worked with some of their "students"to try to help them..I couldn't figure out why all these people from California were upside down on these houses...that they bought...in TX!!
I started asking questions and they were al part of NR!
Promises and hopes....but the money was made on selling others into the NR program.
Who the heck pays $16k to be part of a real estate program?!?!?!
Same here. I attended a real estate seminar recently. I just listened to what they had to say, got my free gifts and got out of there. No way they were going to sucker me out of $1,997. Although I don't think they really care because most of the people there did cough up their money to these "gurus".
Anybody who says that being a member here and getting involved is not worth anything is a lunatic.
@Will Barnard. Here is another one saved from the guru trap by Bigger Pockets. When I first typed "real estate investing" into the Google search bar the first thing that came up was an advertisement for an introductory real estate seminar from one of these "gurus". Well after I signed up I continued searching and came across Bigger Pockets. I then came across the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Real Estate Investing. I read it before the seminar came around. The part that stood out the most to me was the section about real estate guru's. It told me to watch out for these guys and how to avoid falling into their trap. Well I went to the seminar and let me tell you, a trap it was! I avoided it though, thanks to Bigger Pockets and the Ultimate Beginners Guide. If it wasn't for that guide and the part about avoiding the guru trap I might have done something stupid at that seminar and blew all of my money! Thanks Bigger Pockets! I am a complete newbie to real estate and I truly do believe that Bigger Pockets is the place to go to learn about and get into the investing business. Happy Investing everyone! I mean investing into actual property that is, not gurus.
P.S Sorry Will. I don't know how to properly @mention you.
No problem Terry, I found it since my last name was used!
What a great story. Glad BP was so helpful to you.
for $1,600 and eventually $14,000, you could already buy some decent investment properties. Save that money for later, read some great threads here and you would do fine.
Bottom line, it's up to people to recognize what a real education is and what is some sham pushing the limits of free speech. BP is the best resource on the internet, thanks to many who contribute, but you still need to be on your toes as we get a few bad apples here too, from time to time, but seems they will also be called out for bad info.
Everyone in business wants your money the question is how much do they want and what is the real value of what they are selling. RE is full of due diligence requirements, the educational aspect is no different. :)
Maybe I have a bias, but for $4-500 you can take a live real estate license prep course and learn some basics about RE law, locally used contracts, local standard procedures, ask questions, etc. You do get to learn a lot of irrelevant crap too though.
Many universities to vocational schools offer classes for state exams as well as other related courses that apply and cover real estate.
Problem is that people always want the easiest way, just teach me what makes money. If that is the market then that is what will be marketed. There is no silver bullet, never has been and never will be when it comes to knowledge, it takes time and effort, neither can be paid for or purchased. :)
I have been with Nouveau Riche for the past two years, and yes, Renatus is the new spin-off company. The packages offered and pricing tiers changed a bit but the personnel is still the same.
NR/Renatus has its positives and negatives. Yes, the recruiting and mlm side is a big turnoff. If you get drawn in from the "get rich quick" promises then you're setting yourself up for failure. A company that employs a sales force that does not know their own product or does not engage in the activities that they're selling will lose all sorts of credibility. And I believe that's what happened with NR/Renatus. It's amazing how many "ISA's" will try to get recruits to pay $16k for a product that they themselves haven't even bought. Kinda shady and kinda unprofessional.
I will say though that the education is good. Is it thorough? Does it encompass all facets of real estate investing? Is it worth $16k? That's up to each individual to decide. All I can say is that I have had success with the company. Most recently I sold, at a decent profit, two properties in Jan 2011 that I purchased via short sales and just wholesaled another property this past week.
My success (short track record since I'm still a very green investor) is not just the result of NR/Renatus though. A family friend that convinced me to join NR/Renatus had a huge part in my success as well. I cannot stress the importance of mentors enough! She was a seasoned investor in NR/Renatus and steered me in the right direction when needed and provided me with an invaluable amount of information as well as contacts. I am also part of a local reia group and a few investing forums.
I've learned a lot from NR/Renatus and it's education but I've also learned a lot from other sources as well. Aside from the marketing and maybe the price, I've no bad things to say about them. But there are tons of places out there with the same or similar information and tons of websites with great discussion forums (BP being one of them) for far much cheaper.
I think a good, honest mentor and local support group is just as important to someone's investing career than these education packages. The local Renatus group here is still getting into the swing of things since it was formed not too long ago. We have a great core of investors that meet weekly. It's always fun to bounce ideas off each other and do case studies of everyone's deals. You learn a lot from the mistakes of others.
I joined Renatus a little over 2 years ago in Chicago, i watched them and researched them for a year before i joined. I did not really find many bad reviews, no glowing ones either. Originally being from FL i needed to connect and network with real estate professionals in the Chicago area. Bigger pockets is an amazing site VERY informational and interactive. Renatus online education is decent, nothing spectacular. What really did it for me was the weekly meetings/ Daily conference calls/weekend work shops and direct mentor access. I can not talk for every renatus community, the Chicago based community is one of the strongest Renatus/Real estate communities in the nation. I have met with and called my mentor many times with questions and have never been asked to pay for anything other than my original tuition. I am currently in the fix and flip class, as a class we are going to in groups purchase, renovate and sell properties funds provided by community, each group will split profits. I have built much of my RE team from other members in the community. I have seen the community grow and get better every month. After classes the mentors and others join at a restaurant have drinks and ask/ talk about anything you want. This was invaluable to me in certain deals. I think the tuition is a little pricey but if you buy the largest package you are a lifetime member being beneficial as they are introducing new classes every other year.
I paid for the local community and mentor access, In my opinion it's worth much more than the 16k investment if you plan on building a company based in real estate.
You will only get out what you put in the community, Just like here on BP.
That being said i do not feel Renatus is the only way to be successful in RE, i do believe its a great helping hand and community for most Re investors.