All Forum Posts by: Adrienne Grolbert

Hey Justin,

We just finished the same weekend up here in Fort Collins. Now, I want to preface with everyone was very pleasant. And they didn't "lie" per se, they did "talk about" wholesaling, foreclosures, creative financing... but they never actually got to the part with actionable information. It was always ABOUT to get there....then it tapered off into some motivational speech or pointed sales pitch. So I can't say they lied. Brandon Diaz was our speaker and he was an engaging (although a bit yelly) and pleasant sales person. He has written a book apparently also.

Here's the 'but'..

I had to pay for a weekend of AirBnB. I had to pay for meals. I had to drive 2 hours to get there and back. I had to take a PTO day at work on Friday. I had to pay the $350 for privilege of letting them sell to me for three days. They had free coffee... except I quit caffeine three months ago.

I was SHOCKED how many people signed up. I would say there were about 40 people that were there on Friday. Probably about 30 by the last day. People were walking around with their "ELITE" name badge stickers all over the place. They made a few hundred thousand dollars off of these people this weekend. The nice couple next to us, two 23-year-olds, initially told us they weren't interested at all in the program but after about an hour of one-on-one sales pressure they caved and came back with their ELITE labels. 

Day one is almost 100% motivational. Day 2 is 50% sales, 25% motivation and 25% information along with a 20-minute one-on-one sales session with one of their people. Thankfully I think we got a new guy who didn't even try to sell us. Day 3 is again 50/25/25 same as day 2 but those one-on-one sales people try ONE LAST TIME to get you by calling you out of class (of course the parts where you are trying to learn something) to pull you aside and really push it one last time. Then at the end of day 3, the speaker says how proud he is of everyone who signed up and in one last ditch effort says he feels like it was his failure and he feels guilty that those who didn't sign up haven't yet. 

I don't have $50k to spend on this program. I doubt I ever will. They push you to get hard money loans or use credit cards. I don't know where the two 23-year-olds got that kind of money.

I am not at all saying their expensive programs aren't worth it, I can't speak to that. They do seem to have some benefits but it was a rough weekend of sales and I'm exhausted. I also bought the 3-day-long financial market package but I won't be attending. I can't take another 3 days of sold to.

Hello all!

Looking for some suggestions on brokers/banks in the Pittsburgh area that would be willing to work with investors from out-of-state. We are in the Denver area looking to invest there. We were told that S&T bank might be a good place to start but I wanted to try and gather some other suggestions as well. We are new at this and trying to get started and actually DO something!

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Adrienne& Cody

@Rob Sulava and @Jeremy Taggart would either of you have suggestions for local Pittsburgh banks/credit unions or brokers that tend to lean toward helping investors? Seems like probably step one in this process is getting pre-approved so we can potentially move when we find something worth moving on. Of course, if that isn't the direction either of you would recommend I'm all ears!

I just started reading "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs To Know About Cash Flow... and 36 Other Key Financial Measures" so hopefully that will increase our knowledge! Are there any books/resources you guys recommend?

Hope you guys are having a great Tuesday! It's overcast here in Denver...which is weird... :(

@Jeremy Taggart thanks for the moral support! We try and look at Realtor.com/zillow.com at least a few times per week and "run numbers" to the best of our ability just to see what is out there and test ourselves. Additionally, we are saving every extra penny to improve our down payment fund. Hopefully with the help of this website we can get some connections and actually take some real action!

Hello BiggerPockets Land!

My partner Cody and I have always believed that we should invest in real estate but after a disheartening search for affordable options in the Denver area last year we back burner'ed the idea. After going to a Rich Dad Poor Dad seminar it renewed our energy and we decided we should look outside of Colorado. Cody is from Pittsburgh and we have a "rental" there which used to be his condo home. It is positively cash flowing (a little!) but was never bought originally to be a rental and is more or less self-managed as it is being rented by a friend. 

So here we are with some family/friend contacts in the area that could help out with some minor things but we could use some guidance on the bigger items. 

We need to start "building our team" as it were and would be grateful for any suggestions for a realtor, broker or banks, and inspectors. Eventually we will need property manager referrals as well but we aren't quite there yet I think. We want to make sure we have our pre-approval in order and realtor who is willing to work with out-of-state investors which means we might be a bit more high maintenance. We are also keen on just connecting with people in the area who are investors, contractors, knowledgeable, etc., just to make some friends and hopefully someday be able to help out others in the same way! We would be happy to do a virtual coffee date with folks willing to share their knowledge... I'll Venmo you for the Starbucks! ;)

We have been doing a ton of reading, going to a few local meetups and will likely be attending the Rich Dad Real Estate Investing weekend program. We are super open to any other book recommendations or educational opportunities. I am the scaredy cat in the partnership and am honestly terrified of making the jump to action so I'm working very hard to get over that. So any moral support would also be appreciated! :)

I look forward to meeting you all and hopefully making some real connections. Any tips or suggestions are most appreciated and we hope to be able to reciprocate someday!

Adrienne & Cody

I have actually met with Chris before! He was great! But after looking through the Denver market for awhile we decided it's too rich for our blood right now. Pretty much looking in the Pittsburgh area at the moment but open to other ideas too. Thanks for the tip! We will for sure be attending some of the meetups!

Hello BiggerPockets!

I'm a nurse and my partner is in school full time to become a pharmacist. We have a cat named Mo who is very spoiled. I knit, read, work out, smoke meats in my 2.5 smokers and enjoy watching moves. Cody isn't allowed to have hobbies because he has to study...err and ride his motorcycle, play video games and generally put up with me.

I've been a lurker for ages, casually listening to the podcasts (both real estate and money) but now I'm ready to take some action. My partner and I live in Denver but after spending a few months last year looking for opportunities here, we decided maybe it's a bit out of our beginner price range. We have a 'rental' in Pittsburgh (was my partner's home until he moved here and rented it out to friends) and our townhouse here in the Denver area. So technically.... we are investors (Hey! The rental cashflows a little! haha) but it was mostly accidental. 

We have read BiggerPockets Guide to Real Estate Investing, The Inside Guide to Funding Real Estate Investing, Who Took My Money?, a plethora of other investing books... but what does the guy on the Side Hustle Show always say? Inspiration is good but inspiration with action is better!

So we are reaching out to our family contacts back in Pittsburgh now and trying to put together a little team (not much progress on this front just yet.)

We are browsing realtor.com for new listings.

We are just.... trying to start somewhere. 

Hoping to meet some friends and make some cool connections on here. We are hoping to hit up some local meetups on real estate as well. I'm honestly terrified to do this real estate investing so really... I probably just need a ton of moral support.... and wine....