All Forum Posts by: Cal Ewing

I have been bidding at the Harris County auction for the past three months and have yet to get a property. Am I wasting my time or do I just need to be patient? I like the fact that there is so much inventory at that auction but each month costs me money to do my due diligence and I am wondering if I should switch gears.   

@Roy Oliphant you make a good point about investing in small counties with no economic drivers.  Perhaps patience is all that is needed.

I am also wondering if there are any people in Texas that can help me estimate general repair costs for things like shingles, siding and other common repairs. 

I use his team and invest remotely from Calgary. I have just met some others that I am working with in conjunction with Mike's team. Namely a fella who owns a title company. He has experience with handling title issues that can come with tax deeds and the redemption period. I can connect you are discuss in more detail of you would like. Also, I am looking for partners to invest with in Houston if you are interested. I Hope I havent violated any forum rules by mentioning that.

I have taken two separate Mike Wolf investing tours including the Houston Tax Deed investing tour. After pretty much throwing away $15,000 on "Rich Dad Poor Dad"/"Tigrent" real estate investing courses, I found I actually learned something useful from Mike Wolf's investing tours and they are definitely not a scam.

One of Mike's deals is that if you take one of his US investing tours you get him as a mentor for life and I have definitely used and abused that benefit.  Mike has sat down with me for coffee, talked to me on the phone and answered emails many, many times and happily answers all of my questions for free.  He is incredibly knowledgeable and has been investing in Canada and the US for 20-some years.  

The first tour I took of Mike Wolf's was to Las Vegas in 2009 or 2010, and as a result of his mentorship I did my first deal in Vegas and made a decent return on a two month flip of a single family home (foreclosure). Under his advice I then switched to investing in Phoenix and, using his power-team that he set up in that city for free, I bought a foreclosure and ended up making a 30% return on the deal, renting the single-family home for positive cashflow before selling it two years later. Mike did not make a cent off of this investment.  

Again in 2012, I followed Mike's advice to change focus once the opportunity in Phoenix began to dwindle some and I took his Houston Tax Deed tour. 

I learned so much good hands-on due diligence information from that tour and I feel it was worth every penny. I now use his power-team in Houston (free of charge and he gets no kick backs from me using them) and have started assembling some other individuals onto my own power-team. I have bid on properties at two tax deed auctions in Houston so far. I have yet to win a property but I am confident to do all of the due diligence steps on my own and I don't feel that my lack of auction success thus far is any fault of Mike's. 

I agree that in general, one should be very cautious of "Real Estate Investor Gurus", however, Mike Wolf is a different sort. Yes, he has made money off me on his US investing tours and they are pricey but he has provided me with such great value that I do not regret it in the least. I recommend Mike Wolf to anyone. He is knowledgeable and generous and genuinely loves to teach and help people.  I hope this helps!!