All Forum Posts by: Cedrick Ondra

Hi Barry,

I echo the previous thoughts mentioned. I actually did go to one of these free seminars and ended up spending about 2 grand for a 3 day seminar. The free seminar was nothing but a live infomercial giving you hopes of making all kinds of profit and just luring you in at every turn. And then the 3 day seminar provided only extremely basic information that you can get for free here, or spend a few bucks on some books and learn the exact same thing. It was pretty much, "Imagine how much money you can make." and a big upsell at that end. I saw couples pay upwards of $40,000 to get these platinum (or whatever they were called) memberships. I honestly wonder, had I had the money, if I would have fell victim to it. I've been in sales, and these guys were master salespeople every step of the way. I recognized everything they were doing and still felt the desire to buy in, even though I knew better. I'm glad I didn't have the money to drop because I think I might have. The best thing I got out of it was that I was introduced to REI. And it led me here to BP, of course. Before that, it wasn't even a thought. I've got a seed planted now, but I also want to make sure to do it right. You can definitely pick up some tips at some of these seminars, and you'll meet people who have the same interests as you, but don't fall for the big upsell.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

Aloha everyone!

I want to start off by saying how grateful I am to have found this site. I've already participated in a couple of the webinars, and read a lot of the discussions, and it's great to have so many people willing to share their knowledge and provide support to each other. So thank you all already!

Now to introduce myself: My name is Cedrick and I live with my wife, Mary, on the Kona side of the beautiful Big Island of Hawai'i. I have tons of real estate experience, and by tons, I mean absolutely none... 

My wife and I have talked about real estate investing, but never that seriously. Recently, we attended one of those free seminars where they sell you another weekend seminar where they try to sell you another bigger package for a ridiculous amount of money. We decided to invest in that first weekend seminar, and while I wouldn't do it again, I'm glad we made that investment because it did give me a basic knowledge of real estate investing, planted the seed for us, and kind of made me feel like, "Okay, now we've invested in it, so we have to make sure we do something with it." Truthfully, if I hadn't have gone to that, I don't think I would have even given real estate investing a second thought, at least not for a while anyway. Also, it is what led me here to Bigger Pockets, where I have already learned so much in just the last couple of weeks.

Our primary goal in real estate is to build a consistent cash flow for more financial stability, ensure our son's college will be able to get paid for, and ensure we have assets for retirement. (And so I can stop working two jobs...) Really what it comes down to, is ensuring that the family is taken care of.

I look forward to getting to know everyone here! This already seems like a really great community! So let me just say, "Nice to meet you all! And I look forward to seeing you around the message boards! Aloha!"