Yes, Preston has been around for years. Invented some well know products but mostly Preston is a Master Marketer. He Markets quite a few guru systems and products as well as some of his own. From what I understand, he is "friends" with some, sells their wares and gets a piece.
Anyway, I was extremely curious about his latest system, bought into his most recent system, reviewed it, was appalled, mostly lessons and a few other gadgets. Within 24 hours after I bought into his system, a guy from Fortune Builders called me in an attempt to solicit me into their Mastery program. I was pissed. I was already on the brink of demanding my money back and that sealed it. I called them up and demanded my money back. Took a week to get my refund. In my opinion, not worth it.
The problem is, the system is not all inclusive and there will always be other new systems and gadgets he will try to sell you after you thought you had it all...I should have known better, almost fell for all the hype. I am getting spammed with other must have products that will save me from the end of the world.
It's starting to rear it's ugly head. I just got an email with a "Join now, only 80 seats left for this webinar!" and "The 3 Catacysmic Shifts that will make 97% of REI Impotent in the next 12 months... and what to do about it."
He provides listings of different articles and Times Newspapers all pointing to Wall Street buying out all the homes making it impossible for REI to even get started.
Never heard of this guy until now, but to be fair I'm only a couple weeks into learning about REI.
I have bought some of Preston's stuff in the past. The "REO Rockstar" and the "Deeds from the dead" probate course and was impressed by it. I checked out this "death of real estate investing" thing and saw that it was basically a forum "similar to BP" where you get to chat with other investors the guru's themselves for a low, low price of $90 a /mo or $500. In my option it's not worth it and you can find real "gurus" here on this site. If you have $500 to burn you can sign up for it but I would save that $500 for marketing and just lurk the threads here ; )
Clayton Wilson: He's been running that marketing campaign for about 5 months. Haven't heard much about it.
So, I guess we only have 7 more months before THE END OF REI AS WE KNOW IT! (insert dramatic music)
Preston has been around for years. He's not total fluff - I've seen some real value in some of his stuff and the network of "experts" that he's assembled. Problem is, it's all wrapped in that INFO-MARKETING hype and upselling trickery that we're all getting tired of by now...
...So that's probably why you won't see Preston "Yo, Dude" Ely marketing on BP any time soon. I didn't catch any passionate supporters posting, did you?
Here's a little 'inside baseball' facts about info marketing: marketers know that most if their most profitable business comes from people who are caught up in the IDEA of investing or taking some particular form of action related to what's being pitched. However, they know that 80-90% or more of their buyers will take no substantial action, which us why there are so many crappy products out there.
Now, not all products are junk. And not all info product markets are shams. The tricky part is vetting the good from the bad. And here's another problem to tackle: what I think is old info may be what you think is new and essential.
My rule of thumb is that I never want to buy cookbooks from people who no longer cook. As to real estate gurus: ask them the last time they actually generated a lead and turned it into a deal by themselves. Not an assistant. Not that tired old story that they've been using for a decade or more.
That's just one more value to a forum like BP. If I produce and market a crappy product, posters will complain, vocalize their dissatisfaction here and hopefully protect others by discouraging them from supporting the a Dream Merchants.
Are you old enough to remember Tom Vu's TV commercials with bikini clad girls and his compelling pitch, "You stupid if you no buy my real estate course!" If you bought his course, please tell us, did you check him out first?
Rick while I thought overall that was a great post I have to say that you should not desecrate the name of the great Tom Vu by comparing him to Preston Ely.
Hahaha... Tom Vu had the best infomercials ever!
Wow now that I think about it he might actually have been the first stuff I ever saw that got me interested in real estate.
Of course I was like 12 so I was probably more interested in having cool cars and 50 bikini clad hotties on my private yacht. :)
I recently came across a preston ely website where he was selling a system on how to be a guru. So he's now a guru guru I guess. And I guess I will have to go to youtube and check out the tom vu commercials when my wife isn't sitting beside me.
Rick while I thought overall that was a great post I have to say that you should not desecrate the name of the great Tom Vu by comparing him to Preston Ely.
Hahaha... Tom Vu had the best infomercials ever!
I've played poker with Tom Vu a few times, and I can honestly say, he is exactly the same in real life as he was on those infomercials. In fact, if I were ever to describe someone as a "walking informercial," he's the guy.
That said, he's actually an exceptional poker player...
Rick while I thought overall that was a great post I have to say that you should not desecrate the name of the great Tom Vu by comparing him to Preston Ely.
Hahaha... Tom Vu had the best infomercials ever!
I've played poker with Tom Vu a few times, and I can honestly say, he is exactly the same in real life as he was on those infomercials. In fact, if I were ever to describe someone as a "walking informercial," he's the guy.
That said, he's actually an exceptional poker player...
Yeah I was reading that he has like $1.5 million in winnings as a professional poker player.
I was just about to post a thread asking about this guy. I read his free book on amazon on wholesaling. I thought it was fairly informational and not TOO much fluff.That being said it was only the second book I read on the subject, so who knows how valuable the info really is.
Anyway, I got an invite to his "Live" webinar, which I made it about 5 minutes into before turning off. It was just a pre-recorded sales pitch - real estate investing is dying, but if you buy MY system you can make MILLIONS!
He can't be in REI, (sure, he probably was at one point) he's just in the info marketing biz. Cheers to him if people really pay him.
Rick you really brought up some images from " Memory Lane" concerning "Fast Talking " Tommy Vu,,,the King of the Late Night Infomercial,,,,
Just for giggles .Id like to see if I could buy one of his oldie but moldy courses on Ebay for examination,,,,
Now keeping that thought Rick ,the vehicle of the "late night infomercial" is not all bad,,,in fact our mutual friend ,Tony Alvarez admitted and said during a recent presentation that Dave Del Dotto's course was the catalyst and incentive for him to pursue REI in the first place,,,,and,,as they say ,,"the rest is history,," Tony dun' reel good fo his seff"
I think it all boils done to this Rick ,,,,in Tommy Vu words or near words,,,,
"You No Worky,,,!!! You No Money""" thank you Mr Vu,,,,you've inspired us all,,,,,
Are you old enough to remember Tom Vu's TV commercials with bikini clad girls and his compelling pitch, "You stupid if you no buy my real estate course!" If you bought his course, please tell us, did you check him out first?
I'm looking to become a developer I have a 10,000 sqft lot that I can build for homes or condos on checked with the city already the lot is in Gardena, CA. I had a GC come out he said he charges 225sq ft looking to build 2 stories at 1500sqft each the total would be $337,500 each. I owe $260K on the lot I'm looking for a mentor to help me pull this off anyone have any suggestion and I've been in real-estate 15 years mainly as a buy and hold.