Real Estate Gurus...
What they forget to tell you!

The Real estate gurus aren't telling you everything...The biggest thing the gurus know but forget to tell you is that the fastest and perhaps most important way to make money in distressed real estate is by becoming an information publisher and marketer of real estate information products.

Now, it’s very important to understand that I’m not saying there isn’t money to be made in purchasing and flipping distressed properties. Neither am I saying that owning portfolios of investment properties has not been a road to enduring wealth for hundreds of thousands (if not millions) in our society.

What I’m referring to is the crucial mis-direction that takes place.

Once you know and understand the importance of the business models that drive the gurus businesses, you’ll be able to get the best the gurus have to offer and shut out the garbage.

While the real estate gurus late night infomercials are full of breathless reports of making money in real estate with seemingly hard-to-believe stories, little is said about the amount of work it takes to gain the confidence and skills required to coordinate even the simplest house flipping deal.

Even worse, you are left to wrongly conclude that it takes a “complete system" of five (5) 300-page binders, 8 audio CDs, 2 forms disks etc, etc. Or they offer a 3-Day $8,000 dollar course.

Here’s the truth:

1. The vast majority of people who purchase these courses will never do anything with them – It is up to you to restrict yourself to bootstrapped and free resources until you are absolutely sure you are ready to implement. One way you can know is by committing to attend free or very low-cost real estate investor meetings, clubs and associations in your area and linking up with successful local, non-real estate gurus.
2. The most important element you need to master is how to find motivated sellers. Most effective marketing methods take time to set up and implement, all others cost money. Real estate investor lead generation strategies that are not time or money-intensive take a lot of consistent effort – unless you get lucky.
3. The fundamentals principles of any real estate investing technique can be learnt for free from websites like this one, real estate forums and by building relationships with active local real estate investors. I’ve personally seen real estate investors verbally share information in minutes that they make people pay hundreds to get in another venue.
4. The important local details are often not included in real estate gurus courses and products. The missing details usually involve,local and state anti-flipping laws, local pre-foreclosure restrictions, what areas make good investor neighborhoods, personal productivity training and principles of self-management and business management. Notice that it’s a lot of local stuff… and personal stuff.

This is a video by Dr. Glenn Livingston, a psychologist and one of my favorite marketing minds. This is a gem.

The point of all the information I've shared with you so far is that doing house flipping deals has more to do with local information and personal preparedness and productivity. Your feelings about the inadequacy of your house flipping knowledge is what might drive you to waste money on very expensive information products that you're not ready or willing to use.

Here are some ways to fill in the blanks and save your money for marketing where it will be most useful:

1. Investor-experienced and local settlement attorney (found by referral from two or more active local investors).
2. Investor-experienced and local real estate attorney.
3. Fellow House flipping investors and wholesalers in your area.
4. Business process, productivity or life coaching (or in some cases, professional counseling).
5. More is often less when it comes to Real estate investing home study courses. Many information marketers (real estate gurus included) stuff more “filler” than is necessary into their products, not because they want to improve your learning and recall, but to lower the return rates from the “money back” guarantees that are the hallmark of all good direct response advertising.

So there you have it.

I have offended a lot of influential (and wealthy people) so you can make better decisions. What I have written does not mean that everyone who offers you a real estate investing seminar or home study course for a fee is a scam artist. There are some good people out there who believe in delivering value.

If you are sure that you are mentally committed to the house flipping course of action, and will do what it takes to succeed, here are some guidelines to follow:

1. Real Estate Coach or mentor should be local or otherwise personally accessible to you.
2. Restrict yourself to mentors or coaches who have already proven the value of their material to you by providing you with tons of valuable and immediately useful information.
3. Depend upon recommendations from active investors you know personally (from your local RE group) and who used the real estate coaches program when they were newbies.
4. Regarding price, I don’t think there’s any one way to decide what fits everyone. As a rule of thumb though, many people who are drawn to no money down real estate are usually facing some serious financial issues. If that describes you, I would suggest you invite yourself into a joint venture relationship as a real estate bird dog.

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