Real estate investors are not professional athletes.

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Real estate investors are not professional athletes.

Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
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Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes

I saw a post on another social media site while watching the world series the other night and it was regarding someone noting "I watched a video and this guy is 100% legit" and almost fell off my chair.

Then it had me comparing athletes to investors and how easy it is to fake it in real estate.

In sports, if a guy tells you he can hit a baseball 500 feet, make 100 three-pointers in a row, or run a 4.24 forty, you’d want to see him do it. In sports, you eventually will, because the scoreboard and the stopwatch don’t lie. You do not typically pay them until you see it.

Real estate has no stopwatch. Anyone can get on camera and claim hundreds of deals, and a polished video makes that claim feel like proof. All it really proves is good lighting and comfort on camera.

Skill in this business shows up in full-cycle results, real financials, and how someone handled the deals that went wrong.

A video is marketing. A track record is evidence. Do your diligence on the second one whether its to pay someone to learn from or invest with. That is my rant for the day.

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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
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I was at a well known mastermind that had a few of the national guru's as members along with those trying to be guru's you get a few pops into them and its evident their goal is one thing make money at all cost and at anyway possible. I declined to join as I just could not stand being in that same club.

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  • Lorelai Germain
    Real Estate Consultant · Seattle, WA · Member since 2026 · 18 posts · 3 votes
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    I think the real test is whether someone can explain not just their successful deals, but the decisions behind them and what happened when things didn't go according to plan. It's easy to showcase impressive returns, but understanding the original projections, the actual results, and the risks taken to get there tells you much more about someone's ability as an investor.

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  • Don KonipolBusiness Member
    Investor · The Woodlands TX / Avon, CT · Member since 2009 · 6k+ posts · 10k+ votes
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    Problem is that most of the guru “suckers”have no training, education or experience in business, and are clueless about the need for “due diligence”. Further with younger people, a “bull market” has made many arrogant, entitled, and simply misguided in their economic “theories”. A severe “correction” like 2008-2012 would correct their thinking. As Judge Roy Bean stated “nothing focuses the mind like a good hanging”.

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    • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
      Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
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      I was at a well known mastermind that had a few of the national guru's as members along with those trying to be guru's you get a few pops into them and its evident their goal is one thing make money at all cost and at anyway possible. I declined to join as I just could not stand being in that same club.

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  • Vladimirs Veiss
    Developer · Riga, Latvia | Switzerland | Florida · Member since 2026 · 114 posts · 17 votes
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    @Chris Seveney great rant, and the stopwatch line is spot on. Lorelai made the key point with projections vs actual results, and in renovation you can go one level deeper. A rehab can actually have a stopwatch: the estimate before the work and the final bill after it, stage by stage. That gap is the scoreboard, and it's much harder to fake than a video. On our jobs in Switzerland, that stage-by-stage gap told the story faster than any photo. What's the one document you ask for first when someone claims a big track record: the closing statements, the P&L, or the estimate vs actual on their rehabs?

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    • Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
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      Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
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      Yeah, you notice you never see any of these people share with you, here is a property we bought (here is deed), here is what we paid - here was our GC contract, here was the final HUD. OF course they have one or two but many claim to have done thousands of deals etc. Ok, share the books to show you are legit? Many will not. as it does not exist.

      i know several in the note space that I am in that brag about and teach you how to do this but they never do case studies, because they do not have any because they have no experience but can have chatgpt create some script from videos from others.

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    • Don KonipolBusiness Member
      Investor · The Woodlands TX / Avon, CT · Member since 2009 · 6k+ posts · 10k+ votes
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      Those who can, DO; those who can’t, TEACH.

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    • Richard F.
      Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
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      Even more importantly, we never hear from them 2 - 4 - 10 years later to see how their project actually held up physically or financially over the longer term. Nearly every flip, "update", or "rehab", and some but certainly not all "rent ready" units might well look great on Day 1. But how was it the first turnover? The next one? or 10 years later...how many times was the same problem addressed, or perhaps never addressed and now you find severe structural issues that must be resolved? What were the turnover repairs needed and their costs due to the tenants YOU screened and placed?

      Everything is rosy once you collect that first rent money. Everything that comes after is what really matters.

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  • Ed O.
    Investor · Statewide, MO · Member since 2011 · 823 posts · 428 votes
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    Well said on the post. It will probably offend some people and vendors here... truth is what it is.

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  • Divin KanyamaBusiness Member
    Accountant · Seattle, WA · Member since 2025 · 613 posts · 254 votes
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    This is a fair reminder, @Chris Seveney. Being good on camera and being good at managing an investment are two different skills. A polished video can make me interested, but it shouldn’t be what makes me comfortable handing over money. I’d want to understand what the results actually represent—completed deals versus projections, returns after expenses, and how much depended on favorable timing rather than a repeatable process.

    The part about deals that went wrong stands out most. A win doesn’t tell the whole story; how someone communicated a setback, handled unexpected costs, and accounted for investor money matters too. I wouldn’t expect anyone to have a flawless record, but I would expect their claims to hold up to reasonable verification. Confidence can earn attention. Transparency and evidence are what should earn trust.

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