Are any of these gurus actually for real?
I'm curious. I read about these guys all the time and have pretty much decided that if they are advertising, they probably are snake oil. I'll give them a shot and then quickly find I either already know way more than them and it's obvious or they are just doing that high pressure sales crap (sorry I was an advertising exec, not gonna work). Anyone know of any that actually are worth paying for the information?
I'm at that odd stage where you have a bunch of rentals (mainly single family and duplex types) and want to move into commercial since I can see the ease you can make some real money by making a decent complex into a great one. After reading a bunch and slowly figuring out the terms like Cap rates, etc, and some legal pitfalls like getting sued over faulty deal (wow I didn't know that was a thing). I'm slowly realizing this is a whole different ball game and would love to find out more info before I jump in and hope. I've done a bad deal with a duplex once and I know full well that a lousy deal can be a money pit. I can't even imagine screwing up when you're talking 7 figures. I like to be sure I'm not doing something dumb. I'm too old to screw up my retirement now.
So any of these guys for real? It's about the only way I see to start navigating that commercial real estate world. There's just so many things and I keep finding new ones all the time that go on my due diligence checklist. Any thoughts are welcome.
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Interesting story about that. Right after the last crash, we were operating a successful fund that bought severely distressed commercial loans out of banks. I had been a banker for years and we had 2 other bank executive with special assets experience, so we were doing well. I had met some of the gurus at conferences, but none of them actually had experience doing what they were trying to teach. I would listen to them talk and it was obvious that they were much better at selling courses that doing what they were teaching. One of our investors was a nationally-known economist that had published to best-selling books on the economy. He had a massive following on a newsletter that tens of thousands of people paid monthly subscriptions for. His publisher wanted to do a real estate-based "course" and have him teach it. To his credit, he said "I don't know enough about the subject, but I know the guy." I met with the publisher and they wanted me to do these weekend-long courses on buying non-performing loans. They wanted me to create a fund full of crappy assets to sell to my "students". I felt really dirty just being in the room. There is no way I can teach someone what it took me 30 years to learn with the backing of big banks in a weekend. I would be leading lambs to slaughter. I said no and they got a "guru" to do it. It didn't last long. A few years later, I was contacted by a woman who was getting into the space. She was taking courses from a guy that had no credit background, but learned by taking another guru's course. I was speaking at an IMN conference and she approached me after my first talk. The next day I was on a panel and I saw her in the audience along with other students. The guru was sitting in the audience near her with a legal pad taking furious notes. I've yet to meet one that really knows their stuff. Perhaps I should bypass my moral compass and you and I can go in business together "selling courses". LOL. Maybe someday I'll teach for a reasonable price...when I'm retired...but for now I'll be happy managing this company. If you know your stuff, it's more profitable to do than to teach. I've yet to meet a guru with a great background, so whenever I hear "just last year I was flipping burgers at a fast food restaurant, but I found the secret to making money in real estate," I roll my eyes.