Mentoring/beginner help

Ive been looking for a mentor/coach and have been in contact with a few people but wanted to get some feedback before I dove in.
I have been getting emails from preston ely’s camp but got mixed reviews about his services and was wondering who has dealt with him because I see his name everywhere lol
And also I have been in contact with numerous people from rei web tools, and was wondering if anyone has purchased/or worked with them before and what was your experience? Is it worth the investment? They have been very helpful so far but a sales pitch is a sales pitch at the end of the day.
Any feedback is much appreciated

Preston’s a friend of mine, but also a competitor. So, I’m going to stay away from that. Here are a few things to look for when searching for a mentor:

  1. Make sure your coach is accountable. Does he have a strict time frame to respond to your questions, comments and leads? Years ago, I had a gal come to my program from the Rich Dad coaching program. She told me her coach would take a week, or longer, to respond to her emails. And when asked why, he said he was traveling on business and speaking engagements.

  2. Make sure your mentor has the ability, and the desire, to actually coach. Many of the coaching programs out there, especially the really big ones, IMO, are basically money-makers for the owners of the company. This will likely not be the top wholesaler in your city. A coach needs to be able to motivate, inspire, teach and grow talent.

  3. If it’s important to you, make sure the guy you’re talking to will be your coach. Many of the programs out there will sell you into the program, by stage, website or ad, and then pass you off to someone you’ve never spoken to before.

Good luck!

Great point Maestro. Nothing beats 1 on 1 coaching! Having that person there at your side to motivate and inspire you is priceless. Make sure the person genuinely wants to help you. You will usually be able to tell by the way they conduct business and how they respond to you.

Thanks for the responses guys. I guess I am just being overly cautious before committing to either program

With as much hype and BS as this guy is putting out there, I suspect he isn’t doing deals but is instead peddling expensive get-rich-quick schemes.

I’m curious… What do you hope this program will do for you?

A real mentor is the ones that get you by the hand and lead you step by step. Once a mentor help you please do not short change the hand that feed you. My advise stay away from all the snake oil salesman books.

A mentor will tell you what you need to hear, NOT what you want to hear. If they are selling you the bright lights and glam by putting a smile on your face with dollar bills, instead of letting you know up front how hard it will be to start out, then watch for the smoke and mirrors.

Good luck, because I’m starting out too!

Cheers!

A real mentor that will provide and show you ever detail will charge you around $1500 to $2000 (The fee is upfront) plus a %% of the deals you do. Most investors never get pass first base to hire a mentor because they are told in the snake oil salesman books you can start with no upfront fee, or buy with no money or credit.

The question to me is how to find a “real” mentor in your area that is physically capable of allowing you to attend deals, meetings, etc?

What area are you in?

I’m in Oklahoma. :slight_smile:

And? It stopped there. I was reading about “how to hire a mentor” basically and POMTE said he was from OK. Then no response. Okay, well, I am from Texas and us mid-westerners would like to know how you find a mentor in our state, preferably in our city. Is it really true that they want $1500 to $2000 up front, plus a commission? That’s outrageous! Most newbies, such as me, don’t have $1500 to $2000 to throw in the wishing well and hope our prayers will be answered. If that’s the case, then the mentor I am emailing with (I just filled out his form letting him know what I need) is going to charge the same thing. I was hoping I could just split the commission with him, after all, I’m doing all the work and besides, who in their right mind would pay for services BEFORE they are rendered? Certainly not me. Just an FYI, I was contacted by Chris Chico, anyone heard of him?

Regards-- and happy hunting!

Once you find a real mentor they want the upfront fee so they know you are serious about learning the business. The old saying is it take money to make money. Understand most investors that wanting to start out do not have the funds to pay upfront fees. I tell investors save your money before you look for a mentor and please don’t believe in those books that say you can buy real estate with no credit or no money they all are scams. I know some say they can buy with no money or credit but when you ask they can not back it up by showing you the deal.

Most want triple what you quoted. Chico will be no different, I’m sure. But be realistic. Why would anyone take the time and make the effort to work with someone without compensation for their expertise and guidance?

I agree but you have investors that will pay high dollar for the snake oil books thinking they don’t need money to get started.

From Maestro: Years ago, I had a gal come to my program from the Rich Dad coaching program. She told me her coach would take a week, or longer, to respond to her emails. And when asked why, he said he was traveling on business and speaking engagements.

Compensation comes in the form of commission. He sits at his desk and gives me advice. I run around and make the calls and research to find what he says I need next, then I close the deal and he gets half. Seems fair to me, after all, when the first POMTE posted that he heard that someone got a mentor and had to wait a week or two for a response on a deal, that’s totally unacceptable. See what I mean about paying for serivces not yet rendered? :shocked

I believe a split on commision is compensation enough. After all, when you DO get them on the phone or to reply to an email, they are doing just that, “giving you advice”. You do what they suggest you do on the deal, all the leg work and calling and researching and they can just sit there and collect a check. If they are good at what they do, then the checks will roll in. Again, I wouldn’t be happy with paying for something before I get it. We should have an agreement that he will get paid when the deal is done and he has worked for it as I have.

Someone in the beginning post mentioned that it took weeks for their mentor to get back with them. That’s a deal killer and kinda what I meant. I wouldn’t expect someone to work for nothing. But then, they aren’t.

Just wondering–

Not surprisingly, your perspective is one sided and skewered.

Most mentors ask for money up front because they don’t want to waste their time with someone that isn’t serious. It also costs the mentor time to mentor you where they could be spending that time doing their own deals making more money instead. In this business about 95% of all people that get into it give up and never follow through. That would equate to a LOT of wasted time for people willing to mentor everyone that asks. This is a business just like anything else and you have to be willing to invest in yourself to get educated if you want to succeed. If you feel you need a mentor to hold your hand then you are probably going to have to pay for it.

Most mentors charge $2500 - $5000 just to mentor you by e-mail and phone support. If you want one to come out and spend a few days with you to hold your hand it can cost $6k - $10k for that.

Think about it. These guys can go out and make $10k by doing a deal for themselves rather than waste that time mentoring you and the odds of you following through are only going to be 5%. Why should someone do that for nothing?

And if you say you would be willing to split your profit from your first deal, well how do they know you will follow through and ever do a first deal? And even if you did, why should they waste their time with you only to have to split your profit when they can just spend that time doing their own deal and make ALL the profit?

It’s up to you. If you feel you need a mentor and believe in yourself enough to follow through then paying to get a good mentor will pay you back 100 times over from all the future deals you do. You don’t get to go to college for free to get a degree. In fact, college will cost you 20+ times more than what a mentor in this business would cost you and this business can set you up financially for the rest of your life where you can have the freedom to do what you want whever you want without ever having to punch a clock working for someone else. And you won’t have to spend the first ten years paying back all those student loans you had to get to go to college. So when you compare what you are getting, $2500 - $5000 for good mentor is a pretty inexpensive education to pay for. Especially when you can make that much or more back on your first deal! Are YOU worth $2500 - $5000 to yourself if that meant getting on the job training to get you going to where you would like to be?

If you don’t want to pay for it then you are just going to have to do like everyone else in this business had to do. Start reading to educate yourself, invest into some courses and just hit the streets and go for it! Learn the ropes as you go. What will probably happen is you blow a few deals or do a bad one or two, which ends up costing you more than a mentor would have cost you from the beginning.

Only 3% will following through if they have no money in learning. I think most investors is corrupted by the snake oil books saying they don’t need money to get in the real estate business.