Can You Believe This

I emailed my local real estate investors group explaining that I was interested in wholesaleing/short sales and asked if they had a member that specialized in these transactions that might be interested in a mentor/teacher role with me. By mentor/teacher, I had in mind maybe someone that I could meet or go to lunch with and maybe shadow them while they do their next deal. I got a reply from the president of the club saying that they had several mentors in the group but they all had a price. One offered a 4 day classroom setting for $3500, another one was with Road 2 Success, and the other was with Nuevo Riche. Or for $1000, he (the president of the investor club) will sit down with me and answer all my questions and then give me a private phone number that no one else has so that he can answer any future calls indefinitely. I know everyone’s trying to make a buck but c’mon. I’ve reached back and helped out others in my other profession. Maybe I’m just a nice guy or just naive. I hope all my fellow newbies have better luck than I did.

Some people might be worth a few K as a mentor. But I doubt it’s anyone in your local rei group. Sounds like people who have heard of the high fee’s other guru’s command and want to get in on the action. They probably think they are worth it. Which is probably sad.

I agree with Jordan. One thing to consider here is why would they want to teach you to become their competition? herbster

good point herbster

Agreeing with me is generally a good point. From my experience

If I had the money to pay a mentor to teach me the business directly, I’d do it in a hear beat! It amazes me sometimes with people who complain about someone charging money to teach them a business that will make them money and give them a career/business that they can grow, ugh!. I’ve come to a conclusion that the people who complain about people charging them money to learn something are people who really don’t have the business skills or entrepreneurial skills needed to make it in business, because if you don’t like people charging you money to learn a business, you won’t spend money to further educate yourself. There are millionaires out there that spend tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on education and mentoring, I think I’ll start thinking like some of them…

Chrissy- you’re new to the game, aren’t you? Just because someone charges money doesn’t mean that they’re even remotely qualified to teach you the biz, or that your investment with them will pay the appropriate return. Unfortunately, my partner and I plopped down $15K for a “seminar” that got us jack and squat. We kick ourselves now, two years into the biz, and wish we had that money back to go out buy a property with. If you want to start out in the REI game, go the store, pick out three books on investing and read them. Also, start keeping tabs on these forums-the people moderating on here are EXPERTS in their fields, and guess what, ITS FREE!

Yes, I’m new to the “game”. I’d still spend the money on a legitimate mentor. I know there are a lot of legitimate mentors out there, just by speaking/emailing with a few of them. I still believe paying for a mentor is a good investment, depending on who it is and what they’re going to provide me with. free is also good. But when you get free things, you value it differently and probably won’t take much action on it. I’m currently looking for a good course to buy, even though I know that a lot of the information could very well be in these forums. It’s just nice to have everything laid out for you in a course… Know of any good one’s that are reasonably priced?

The local club guy might be worth more than the mentor. Think about it, he’s in the trenches every day making money and he’s doing it in your area. The national speaking tour guy probably hasn’t done a deal since Hendrix last toured and doesn’t know anything about the fundementals of your area. Here’s what I would do- Rather than give the guy a few thousand bucks for help that might not be worth it’s weight in toilet paper I’d make him a different offer. Tell the guy you will give him 50% of the NET profit off your first deal that helps you with. Is that more than $2k? Sure is, I have my reasons though. For one if he sucks and doesn’t help he gets nothing so he has incentive to actually help you. Second he might give you some quick blow off information to get you out of his hair once he has your money, with this way he is committed with you until closing and has great incentive to get you through to close as soon as possible. 50% of $10k is $5k to you and $5k to him. $2k to him that you get nothing out is $2k to him and $0k to you. I don’t know about you but for me its worth paying someone MORE if I get SOMETHING out of it versus paying less and getting zero. You don’t have to limit your creativity to real estate deals, you can apply creative offers to ANY aspect of your life including RE education. :slight_smile:

I got a reply from the president of the club saying that they had several mentors in the group but they all had a price. One offered a 4 day classroom setting for $3500, another one was with Road 2 Success, and the other was with Nuevo Riche. Or for $1000, he (the president of the investor club) will sit down with me and answer all my questions and then give me a private phone number that no one else has so that he can answer any future calls indefinitely.

Yes, I can believe that and it was perfectly appropriate. You wrote to inquire about a service and they told you the price for that service. The mistake was yours (sorry to be blunt).

If you really want to learn this business, you should join your local REIA and MAKE FRIENDS with the SUCCESSFUL investors in your area AND I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE GURU WANNABES. I’m talking about the FEW people at your local REIA that actually make a living in the real estate business, and more particularly the area of real estate that you’re interested in. The key point here is to make friends. If the first words out of your mouth are that you want them to teach you the business, then it is obvious that you’re just using them. On the other hand, if you truly develop friendships with these people, they’ll be happy to help you!

Ask yourself the question, if you were a successful local wholesaler and some stranger that hadn’t even been to a REIA club meeting and that you hadn’t even met wanted you to mentor them, would you do that for free? NO! You’d wonder what they had been smoking.

On the other hand, if you had a friend that had put forth the effort to learn as much as possible on their own and then needed some help with the finer points of the business, would you help? I think so!

There are millionaires out there that spend tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on education and mentoring, I think I'll start thinking like some of them.....

The ONLY people that I know that claim to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars a year on mentoring are mentors themselves. They tell gullible newbies that they are successful and that they spend all this money every year on their own mentoring to make newbies believe that this is the norm. IT IS NOT! People that are experts in their business certainly do NOT need to go see some guru to get more training. There is a LOT of truth in the saying: Those that can do, those that can’t mentor!

Worse yet, many “gurus” only teach the good side of the business. They’ll fill you full of motivational b.s. and fill your head with the fantasy of easy money. What you really need is to learn the BASICS of the business and the REALITY of the business. You’re never going to get that from a “guru”!

Mike

The whole idea of paying a mentor makes absolutely no sense to me. As many of the veterans on this site will tell you, the knowledge required to learn REI is very obtainable through inexpensive books and experience. If you’re looking for someone to answer your questions and give advice, you’re already in the right place for FREE! This site is filled with smart, experienced and helpful people willing to help without picking your pocket. They have no other motive behind their advice than to help. Save the money you’d spend on expensive seminars and mentors and use it help you get started.

Mike, good input, I guess I was turned off right away because the 3 “mentors” that he recommended were all cookie cutter type deals teaching stuff that I’ve probably already read in books and on this forum. And his mentor program included a secret phone # that nobody else knew so that he could answer all my future calls. I felt like this guy saw me as a sucker and tried to take me for a ride.

I’ve been working towards educating myself for a long time now on Real Estate because this is something that I’m aspiring to. One thing that I’ve learned is that there are two ways to learn hands-on from a mentor.

  1. Pay them money
  2. Do some legwork. Go to the REIA meetings and make friends, then find some potential deals and present them to your investor friends. Instead of a finder’s fee, or for a reduction in your finder’s fee, ask if you can go along and shadow the deal.

You’re not going to get something for nothing. Thinking that someone will just give you the formula for success is unrealistic. They’re not successful by doing that. Either pay them, or give them a deal as payment. It comes at a price one way or another.

I would think the best way to make sure you are getting value for your money is to split the profits from deals that you and the mentor work together. just paying someone a fee because they call themselves a mentor is ludicrous.

You're not going to get something for nothing.

I think that you can get something for nothing. For example, there is a GREAT wealth of information right here on REIClub - ABSOLUTELY FREE! Moreover, if you take the time and effort to make friends with the successful investors in your local area (at your REIA), then they will also be happy to help you for free.

When I first joined my REIA, a local landlord took me under her wing and taught me a LOT about being a successful landlord. The things I learned from her has made/saved me at least tens of thousands of dollars! She didn’t ask for anything in return.

You don’t have to split the profits from a deal; pay for mentoring; or even scrub toilets for some investor to get help. Just make friends - it’s that simple!

Good Luck,

Mike